


And Nights Bright Days

by LoneWulffe



Series: Paradise in a Dream [4]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alien Cultural Differences, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Development, Complicated Relationships, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Humor, Minor Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-26
Updated: 2020-12-01
Packaged: 2021-01-03 10:33:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 165,252
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21177968
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LoneWulffe/pseuds/LoneWulffe
Summary: “All days are nights to see till I see thee,And nights bright days when dreams do show thee me.” - William Shakespeare, Sonnet 43Faced with almost no other option, Kara walks into the lion's den in an effort to maintain her freedom and hopefully come one step closer to rescuing Mon-El.She soon discovers, however, that she is not the only one around with secrets and a hidden agenda.





	1. Price

**Author's Note:**

> As always, special thanks to my best friend and pseudo-beta Crimson.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Deals with the devil are all the rage these days.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! We're here at the Season 1 point of the story at long last! As usual, if you've only just discovered this fic, please go read it from the beginning or you'll be incredibly lost. If you're a regular, welcome back to the rollercoaster and put on your seatbelts because you're in for one hell of a ride!
> 
> Fair warning for all of you though: This isn't going to be the "Season 1" you know... heh heh heh.

The news broadcasts, the phone, the landline... It was all too much.

With the way her panicked thoughts were mimicking a perfect storm, Kara found herself believing that her head might literally explode at any moment. (Considering the fact that a very real headache had started pounding away inside her skull, it didn't seem like an exaggeration.)

_-Calm down-_, the small part of her brain that was still capable of functioning normally tried to tell her. _-You need to calm down so you can figure a way out of this. Freaking out isn't going to help.-_

_Easier said than done_, she somehow managed to mentally fire back with no small amount of bitterness. Everything everyone in her life had ever done to keep her existence a secret... Everything they had sacrificed to keep her safe... Everything she herself had done and sacrificed to stay hidden from the world... It had all been rendered worthless with a single impulsive act.

Guilt and regret began to chip away at the shock consuming her, further worsening the state of her already chaotic mind.

She needed to get away – to find somewhere that she could actually think. She needed some _peace_. She needed to feel _safe_.

There was only one place in the whole universe where she could get all that.

With lightning speed, the television was switched off, the phone was put on silent and the landline was unplugged.

Then she closed her eyes, leaned back and began reciting her meditation chant.

* * *

Mon-El couldn't quite decide which one was the bigger shock to his system: the impact of a familiar body slamming into his back that was so great it had expelled the air from his lungs or the sudden flood of pure panic into his head courtesy of a very abruptly established mental connection.

“_Agh._” His miniature recreation of the Delliah's Dance monument on the planet Tineleon shattered along with his focus. “What-”

The hands gripping his from behind tightened their hold, making it that much more difficult for him to turn and face his 'attacker'. Meanwhile, the golden light filling his head seemed as if it was both trying to escape and burrow into his soul at the same time. “I screwed up.” He could barely make out the words, what with the way Kara had buried her face in his shirt. “I screwed up so badly, Mon-El. I didn't mean to, I swear, but I did _and now everyone knows-_”

“_Kara._” Careful to use just enough strength to achieve his goal, he pried her hands free and loosened the grip her arms had on his body so that he could turn around. “Kara. Hey. _Hey_,” he murmured soothingly as he gently cupped her face and curled his thoughts comfortingly around hers. He was only half-successful; her brilliant blue eyes were wild and unfocused, causing him to wonder if she was actually seeing him or seeing right through him. “Kara? Kara, look at me and _breathe_. Just look at me and breathe. That's all. Can you do that for me? Please?”

The wild look in her eyes persisted and the golden light was still trying to shake his thoughts off it but then she closed her mouth, swallowed thickly and nodded ever so slightly. “...Okay.”

He gave her a warm smile and sent another wave of comforting energy her way as he pressed a soft kiss to her forehead. “Thank you.”

For a short eternity, they did nothing more than stand there with their foreheads pressed together, eyes closed and breaths slowly synchronising. Her hands had loosened their death grip on his shirt in favour of clinging to his arms while he had shifted his so that his fingers were combing through her hair.

“Better?” he murmured once he was fairly sure she had calmed down enough. At her admittedly hesitant nod, he pulled away just enough to drop another kiss on her forehead. “That's good. When you think you're ready, tell me what happened from the beginning.”

She nodded again and let out a shaky exhale, but it still took a while before she actually started speaking. “Alex cancelled again because of work so I decided to move forward that midnight trip.”

'Midnight trip' being code for her secret vigilante work, his first thought was that something had gone horribly wrong during her most recent mission. “Did you get caught?” he asked worriedly. “I thought you said- No, it was wrong to assume-”

“No, it's not that,” Kara cut him off quickly as she squeezed his arms. Apparently it was her turn to calm him down. “There weren't any complications there.”

Despite his best efforts, Mon-El found his own concern starting to grow and only barely managed to keep it from flowing back to her. “...Then what is it?”

There was a spike of panic as the golden light shuddered but she didn't show it outwardly. “I... When I was on my way back, I heard an explosion in the sky. It was a plane with one of its engines in flames. I-I...” She began shaking, causing him to restart his efforts to calm her down. “All I could think about was how the people on the plane were going to die and I... I couldn't... _I couldn't let that happen_. Not again. _Never again._”

“...So you... caught the plane,” he hazarded a guess and couldn't decide how to feel when she nodded in response. To buy himself some time, he pulled her into a tight hug which she was all too willing to reciprocate. “Okay. That's... You did good, okay? You saved lives. That's what counts.”

“_But I revealed myself to the world!_” Her anguished cry, muffled though it might be, broke his heart. “The Danvers, Kal-El, Bruce... Everyone worked so hard to keep me safe _and just like that-_ I didn't think about what they'd sacrificed when I made that decision. All I could think about was- I was being _so selfish-_”

“_Whoa_, whoa, hey.” In a heartbeat, he pulled away to cup her face in his hands once again so that he could coax her to meet his gaze. “_Hey._ Kara? Kara, look at me. You saw people in trouble and you saved them. That is the _least_ selfish thing in the world anyone could ever choose to do, okay? You did the right thing like you always do. That's what matters. That's _all_ that matters.”

“_At what cost?!_” she demanded to know, her eyes shining with unshed tears as the golden light continued to radiate a mixture of terror, self-loathing and guilt. “I've put everyone I care about in danger with just this one act!” Then the golden light stilled unnaturally as a look of dawning horror swept across her face. “Oh Rao. The DEO.”

The mere mention of that abominable group was almost enough to cause him to give in to the same fear consuming her but he managed to stop himself just in time. The last thing she needed was for him to make her feel even worse than she already did. No, he had to be strong for her. His own panic attack could wait until later when she wasn't around. “Don't think about them right now, okay? We'll deal with that later.”

“But-” she began to protest.

“Kara, answer one question for me,” he cut her off firmly before she could really get started. “Do you regret it?”

Caught off guard, she could only stare at him blankly. “...What?”

“If you could go back in time, would you choose to keep your secret safe and let that plane crash instead?” he clarified calmly.

Her confusion immediately turned into a mixture of incredulity and horror. “Mon-El, there were people on that plane! _Alex_ was on that plane! My secret isn't worth their lives!”

That part surprised him, but it worked in his favour. “So no regrets then?”

It actually took her a moment to realise what he'd done, and the golden light emitted an annoyed pulse as she shot him a weak glare. “...That's playing dirty,” she complained.

“You really should have expected no less from a Daxamite,” he pointed out with a touch of humour and a hint of a cheeky grin. Then he let the moment of levity pass and got serious again. “No more dwelling on it, okay? You did a good thing – the _right_ thing – and you should never have to second-guess yourself over it. Especially not you.”

A heavy sigh escaped her and the golden light dimmed as she hung her head. “I know. I won't. Thank you. But...” Her shoulders sagged as if the weight of the entire universe had been placed on top of them. “It doesn't change the fact that everyone knows I exist now. And the DEO...” she trailed off with a shudder.

The way she leaned into him as if she was trying to hide from the world fed the maelstrom of emotions in his heart he was trying so hard to keep locked away from her. At a loss for the moment as to how he could help, he did the only thing he could think of and wrapped his arms around her again. “It's going to be okay,” he tried to reassure her even though he was painfully aware that he didn't sound convincing even to his own ears. “You're going to be okay. This... If it comes down to it, I want you to run, do you hear me? Gotham or Metropolis; I don't care which one. The first sign they're coming for you, I want you to fly straight to Bruce or even your cousin as fast as you can. Don't hesitate _and don't stop_. Do you understand?”

She nodded and clung to him a little tighter but otherwise remained silent. In his head, the golden light was thankfully no longer in a frenzy but remained similarly tense. It was, however, the most he could have hoped for much to his regret; the reality of the situation was that her future had never been more uncertain than it was now and there was very little either of them could do about it.

Once again, Mon-El found himself cursing his helplessness. All he could do for Kara was offer her words of comfort that had little to no substance to them; if anything happened to her out there in the real world, the best he could do was share her pain. He couldn't protect her, he couldn't save her, he couldn't even hold her... What good was he?

All of a sudden, she jerked in his arms and the golden light flared with panic. Before he could even ask what was wrong, she pulled away and looked off to the side with an expression of pure terror. “Someone's knocking at the door.”

His blood ran cold in his veins. “Kara, look at me.” The commanding tone in his voice broke through the fear clouding her mind and made her comply without question. When her eyes were focused on him again, he cradled her head in his hands and pushed as much comfort and reassurance that he could muster through their connection. “Promise me. Promise me that you're going to run at the first sign – _the absolute first sign_ – of danger. You fly away as fast as you possibly can and you don't stop until you're somewhere completely safe. Understand? Completely, unquestionably _safe_. _Promise me. Please._”

She nodded jerkily. “I-I promise.”

Then she was gone.

Mon-El freely admitted that he was not a devout man and had mostly just gone through the motions when his participation in the prayers and religious celebrations back on Daxam was required. There was also the fact that even if the gods were listening at that very moment, he wasn't entirely sure that they would be all that concerned about safeguarding the life of someone not from Daxam – a member of the race his people considered their mortal enemies, no less.

In conclusion, he had absolutely no guarantee that praying to them and asking for them to protect Kara would work.

But there was nothing else he could do.

So he prayed.

* * *

The first thing Kara did when she jerked awake was use her X-ray vision to see who was on the other side of her front door.

When she did, her fear was immediately replaced by overwhelming relief and she nearly destroyed more than one piece of furniture in her haste to wrench the door open. Having been in the path of narrowly avoided annihilation, St'rki yowled angrily as he barely escaped and scampered off to hide in the bedroom, momentarily forgotten by his mistress.

“Oh thank god!” she exclaimed as she threw her arms around Alex and pulled her adoptive sister into an almost literal bone-crushing hug.

“_Ow!_”

Alex's pained exclamation as well as the barely discernible sound of bones actually cracking caused Kara to hastily loosen her arms and step back. “Oh god, I'm so sorry. That was... That was too hard.”

“It's fine,” Alex tried to wave it off although her wince and the way she was checking her ribs with her free hand made her reassurance less than convincing. Before Kara could start apologising again, however, the older Danvers sister stepped further into the apartment and closed the door behind her. “Are you okay?” she asked as she scanned Kara from head to toe.

For a moment, all Kara could do was stare dumbstruck at her adoptive sister. “_Me?_ Am _I_ okay? Are _you_ okay? _You were on that plane!_ Did you get hurt?! I mean, I tried to soften the landing as much as I could but it's not like I have a lot of experience doing stuff like this-”

“Yes, I'm fine. Thank you for asking,” Alex cut Kara off with an almost irritated tone.

Unfortunately, it completely went unnoticed by Kara. “Were you scared? I mean, I was scared too, but you... You had to be _terrified_. Especially because you probably thought- I mean, _I_ didn't even know _you_ were on that plane until I saw you and _you_ had no idea anyone would be coming to save you, much less think that _I_ was the one who would be coming to save you-”

“_What the hell were you thinking?!_” Alex bellowed, the volume and anger in her voice shocking Kara silent.

Rendered speechless for the second time in such a short period, Kara took even longer this round to regain her ability to speak. “What...”

Alex, however, did not seem to be in the mood to let her try and defend herself. “_You exposed yourself. To the world._” She gestured wildly in the direction of the apartment's windows. “You're out there now, Kara. Everyone knows about you and you can't take that back.”

Shock transformed into hurt which in turn slowly but surely tapped into the fires of rage that blazed eternal deep inside her. “You think I don't know that?” Kara replied harshly as her hands curled into fists at her sides. “_I know, okay?_ Why do you think I flew away the moment the news helicopters arrived? _But people were going to die if I hadn't done something!_ _You_ would have died if I hadn't done something!”

“Maybe you should have just let us die then!” Alex snarled back. “At least your secret would've still been safe! _You_ would've still been safe!”

Kara stared, emotionally trapped somewhere between angry and aghast. “How... How could you even... My secret isn't worth all those lives! Especially when _your_ life is one of them!”

Instead of calming her down, Kara's words only seemed to infuriate Alex even more. “Your secret has _already_ cost lives! Or have you forgotten _my father_?”

Dead silence.

The world beyond the apartment's walls ceased to exist and the two people inside it didn't so much as twitch.

Through the unbearable hurt, Kara looked at the stranger standing in front of her who so closely resembled the adoptive sister she loved so much and wondered if she knew her at all.

Before either of them could say anything else they might regret in the morning, however, the sharp sound of Alex's phone ringing shattered the silence. To Kara's confusion, a myriad of emotions flashed across her adoptive sister's face too quickly for her to identify before Alex's features settled into an expression of pained resignation. With deliberate slowness, the older Danvers sister reached into her pocket, pulled out the still ringing device and answered it. “Sir.”

_Sir?_ “...Alex,” Kara started cautiously as something suspiciously like dread began to settle in her stomach, “who's that on the phone?”

Alex ignored her. “Yes, I'm with her. No, she's- Sir, there's no need- I can handle-” With every aborted sentence, she became more and more agitated until she stopped talking altogether. Nevertheless, her expression continued to darken as the person on the other end of the line kept talking until that too stopped. Then she pulled the phone away from her ear and held it out towards Kara. “He wants to speak to you.”

Every instinct screamed at Kara to flee – screamed at her that whoever this 'he' was, she was better off not having any kind of contact with him. However, it was as if someone else had taken command of her body, and thus it was with a strange kind of detachment that she saw her own hand rise up to take the phone from Alex and press it against her ear.

“I'm sure I don't have to tell you why we're having this conversation, Kryptonian.”

She forgot to breathe and her suddenly nerveless hand nearly dropped the phone.

That voice.

If not for the fact that she returned to the dream world every single time she fell asleep, she was sure that she would have had more than a few nightmares that featured that voice and its owner prominently.

_It can't be._

“Don't make me repeat myself.”

But it was.

“Y-Yes,” she barely managed to gasp out as her entire body began shaking uncontrollably. “I-I-I... I-I know.”

“Good. That saves me a lot of time.” If Henshaw had noticed the way her voice had trembled, he didn't acknowledge it. “You've caused everyone a lot of trouble and we're going to have to figure out how we can fix that.”

“P-Please.” Her vision started to blur with tears. Nothing except the phone in her hand and the voice coming out of it registered in her mind. She had even forgotten that Alex was in the apartment and it was her sister's phone she was using. “I-I promise I won't do it again-”

“I would certainly hope so considering that would involve more planes falling out of the sky,” he cut her off with an unreadable tone. (If not for the gravity of the situation and the person saying it, she would have called that an attempt at dry humour.) “Regardless, your promise is worth very little especially in the long term.”

By then, the dread in her stomach had turned from a yawning hole into a bottomless abyss slowly consuming her from the inside out. Her mouth fell open but no sound came out. What could she even say? Would it even have any effect? Was her fate sealed no matter what?

A tired sigh from the other end of the line dragged her out of her turbulent thoughts. “This is going nowhere. Perhaps it would be more productive if we had this conversation in person.”

“_W-What?_” No. Talking to him was bad enough; if she had to actually _face_ him... “W-Wait, please-”

“Pass the phone back to Agent Danvers.”

“But-”

“_Now._”

Cowed into submission, Kara snapped her mouth shut and wordlessly obeyed.

The look on Alex's face as she took back her phone was unreadable, and whatever little she managed to say did little to assuage Kara's fears. “Sir? ...What- No, wait- But sir-” She closed her eyes, a look of resignation on her face. “...Understood.”

When Alex ended the call with an audible 'click', Kara thought she could be forgiven for thinking it sounded like a death knell. “...Alex?”

“Come on.” Alex didn't even wait for Kara as she headed for the front door. “The longer we put this off, the worse it's going to be.”

Maybe it was the certainty in that statement or maybe it was the sense of inevitability about her fate. Whichever it was, Kara found herself robotically following her adoptive sister out of her apartment, down the stairs and into the car.

Then they were off to Rao knew where.

Throughout the entire journey, her mind sluggishly tried to make sense of everything that had just transpired.

One by one, the pieces began falling into place... and the picture they formed was far from pretty.

“The job you wouldn't tell me anything about,” she croaked, unable to look at Alex as she spoke. “The boss you hate so much... All this while... You were working for the DEO. For _him_.”

Alex kept her eyes on the road. “...Yes.”

“_Why?_” Kara asked tremulously even though she was afraid of the answer. “Why you? Was... Was the reason you were recruited... me?”

“They recruited me because my background in bio-engineering made it easy for me to become an expert on alien physiology.” A pause followed. “But you were a contributing factor, yes.”

Kara closed her eyes but a tear slipped out nevertheless. She had done it again. She had ruined the life of someone she loved just by being close to them – another member of the Danvers family, no less. If she hadn't come into their lives, they would still be one happy family. Jeremiah would still be alive and Alex would be pursuing a career she was actually passionate about instead of risking her life hunting aliens. If she had just stayed in the Phantom Zone forever and never landed on Earth...

If only...

Mentally and emotionally exhausted, she needed very little encouragement to let the darkness claim her.

* * *

The relief that washed over Mon-El upon Kara's return to the dream world was almost immediately replaced by alarm when he noticed her rather lifeless state. “Kara?!” Panicked, he ran over and cupped her face in his hands both to initiate their mental connection and to get her to meet his gaze. “Kara, are you okay?! Talk to me!”

To his immense worry, the golden light was dim and inanimate while she herself seemed to struggle to actually focus on him. In fact, it looked like she was barely holding tears back. “Mon-El...”

His mind began conjuring all the absolute worst case scenarios it could think of, each one more horrific than the last. “_Kara, please..._ Tell me what happened. Are you hurt? Did they capture you? Where are you right now?”

“I...” Her voice trembled with the sound of a suppressed sob and the golden light began to radiate a chaotic mix of emotions, grief being the most prominent one. “I'm with Alex. She's taking me to meet him.”

The seemingly nonsensical answer threw him for a loop to such an extent that he had trouble figuring out where to even begin asking for clarification. “Alex? What does Alex have to do with your situation? And who are you meeting?”

This time, the sob managed to escape. “Mon-El... It's the DEO. Alex works for the DEO. She works for _Henshaw_.”

“No.” His denial was instantaneous even though he knew Kara would never lie to him – especially not about something this serious. “I- But _why_? Why would she-”

“_Because of me!_” If not for the way her voice had cracked under the strain of all her turbulent emotions, he was fairly sure he would have been deafened by now. As if the confession had sapped her of all her strength, her shoulders sagged and she bowed her head, breaking eye contact with him in the process. “Because of me, she... Just like Jeremiah... Why did it have to happen again? Why couldn't I have just stayed in the Phantom Zone?”

“_Kara._ Hey.” He gently but firmly tilted her head back up so that he could look into her eyes again. “Stop. We've been over this. You can't blame yourself for things beyond your control.”

Unfortunately, she was far from convinced. “But if I hadn't come into their lives-”

“You don't know what would have happened,” he pointed out. “They could've still recruited Jeremiah and Alex. We will never know. There's no point in beating yourself up over what could have been. And besides, think about what would have happened if you hadn't landed on Earth. Kenny's killer would have gotten away with his crimes. Eve would have been kidnapped and killed by her stalker. Edge would have destroyed that shelter. And all those other crimes you stopped... All those people you saved directly or indirectly in some way...” He offered her a soft smile as he let all the awe and affection he felt for her flow into her mind. “Kara, the world is a better place with you in it. No matter what.”

He could tell that she was desperate yet oh so afraid to believe him. “How can you be so sure?”

“Because you are the kindest, strongest, most amazing person I have ever known,” he answered simply and with complete sincerity. “I'm sure that regardless of how things turned out and what the future holds, Jeremiah, Eliza and Alex have never once regretted welcoming you into their family and they never will. The same goes for everyone else who knows you – Bruce, Selina, Alfred, Eve, Tae, Sui... even those who don't know your true identity like Winn and Mrs Needleberg. It is a joy and an honour to be part of your life, Kara Zor-El, and I daresay no one believes that more than me.”

The golden light shrank away from his thoughts a little as embarrassment became the dominant emotion coming from it and a barely detectable blush coloured her cheeks. “I'm already in love with you,” she mumbled in a clumsy attempt at a deflection of his effusive praise. “You don't have to compliment me like that.”

Her easy use of the word 'love' caused him to freeze. She said it rarely – why bother when their connection allowed both of them to share their feelings in their purest forms? – but when she did, it was with such natural ease that it always took his breath away. In contrast, he was painfully aware that he had yet to actually say it himself. He didn't even really know why it was so hard to do especially when he had no doubts about how he felt about her.

...No. This was absolutely the wrong time to think about this. Hoping he had caught himself in time, he gave her a small teasing grin. “Is that a request for me to stop?”

A flicker of annoyance came through their connection – a small victory in his opinion. “You know that's not what I meant...” Before he could continue teasing her, however, the golden light dimmed again and she dropped her gaze. “Do you... Do you think she hates me?”

There was no need to ask who 'she' was supposed to be, and Mon-El let his grin fade as he chose his next words carefully. Out of everyone on Earth, Alex ranked somewhere at the very top of the list of people that Kara loved with all her heart. Even the mere thought of losing that sisterly bond was obviously tearing her apart from the inside out. “That... That's something you have to ask her. But I don't think she does, for what it's worth,” he was quick to add. “She made her choice to join the DEO to protect you – at least, that's my understanding of the situation – and she wouldn't have done that if she didn't love you.”

“...I guess,” she whispered but it was obvious that she didn't quite believe it. There was something else she wasn't saying, he was certain, but he got the sense that it was more about the pain of recounting whatever had happened instead of a desire to hide it from him. If he had to guess, the part about Jeremiah was not something her own mind had brought up without outside prompting.

But he would deal with that another time. Right now, there was a more pressing issue they had to discuss.

“How much time do you have left before you arrive where you're going?” he asked as tactfully as he could manage.

Just as he expected, she stiffened and the golden light emitted a pulse of fear. “I-I... I don't know. I don't even know where we're going.”

“Then I'll be brief.” He waited until he had her undivided attention before he continued. “This is going to sound unrealistically optimistic but I think this may work out in the end. Henshaw didn't send a team to capture you; instead, he sent Alex – _alone_ – so we can at least believe for the moment that he's sincere about wanting to talk things out. If you're careful and put that genius brain of yours to it, I think you might be able to get yourself out of this. At the very least, you can trust Alex to be on your side and I don't think she'll let any harm come to you. So... be strong, be vigilant and most of all _be smart_. You're going to find a solution. I have faith in you.”

It took a while, but eventually the fire in her eyes he knew so well returned – perhaps not as bright as it usually was but it was there nonetheless. Similarly, the golden light's glow began to regain some of its strength. “I know. Thank you. I will.” Then both dimmed just a little as her fear from before made its unwelcome return. “...And if it doesn't work out?”

“You have powers.” He left it at that, knowing she would understand.

She did and acknowledged it with an admittedly shaky nod.

Then she was gone again... and once again, there was nothing he could do but pray.

* * *

Kara woke up just as the car came to a halt.

“We're here,” Alex announced as she shut off the engine and unbuckled her seatbelt.

'Here' apparently being... literally the middle of nowhere.

Were they in the desert on the outskirts of National City? Kara looked around as she exited the vehicle along with Alex but couldn't be sure. Maybe she should have reconsidered that short visit to the dream world during the journey... although considering the circumstances, she had needed it.

Especially when even looking at the man standing in front of her still made her want to flee to the other side of Earth.

“So.” Everything about Henshaw from his tone to his posture made clear his zero-tolerance attitude towards her. The same could be said of the two DEO agents flanking him who were holding guns that she was almost sure had Kryptonite in them instead of regular bullets. “We have a problem.”

“Sir-” Alex started, an undercurrent of anxiousness Kara could barely detect in her voice.

“Your input, Agent Danvers,” he cut her off smoothly as he turned his gaze in her direction, “is unneeded.”

Alex snapped her mouth shut with an audible 'click' although her expression made it clear she was more than a little unhappy about it.

Satisfied, Henshaw's eyes once again focused on Kara, and she had to dig her nails into her palms to stop herself from flinching. “You're a danger, Kryptonian. You've been one since you first landed on this planet, bringing your people's prison Fort Rozz with you. All those alien convicts – the worst criminals in the galaxy – they all escaped thanks to you. Despite all that, we were willing to overlook your existence before this because we had assurances on several levels that you would do the sensible thing and stay hidden. After your first incident, we managed to reach an understanding with Jeremiah Danvers and continued to look the other way. But now you've revealed yourself to the world and we can't simply do that any longer.”

_Be strong, Kara. Be smart about this._ “I...” She swallowed and tried to keep the tremors out of her voice. “It was one incident and I saved lives – one of them being an agent under your employ, even. I'll go back to being regular Kara Danvers tomorrow and the news will eventually move on to another story. There's no need for any drastic decisions.”

“You underestimate the tenacity of the media – a surprise, I would say, considering you're currently working in one of the largest local corporations in the industry.” So they _were_ still keeping loose tabs on her. Why was she not surprised? “People _will_ ask questions. They _will_ dig. Eventually, someone will find something that leads back to us. And that is the last thing we want, wouldn't you agree?”

His implied threat was hard to miss. “Then feed them a lie. That should be easy for a clandestine government organisation like yours-”

The rest of Kara's admittedly scathing suggestion died in her throat as her ears were suddenly assaulted by a high-pitched noise that caused her to double over and let out a sharp scream.

[“I'm communicating at 50,000 hertz,”] a male voice speaking fluent Kryptonian filled her ears through the painful din. [“If you can hear this, you were not born on this planet.”]

“Kara! Are you okay?!” Alex's panicked voice barely registered.

[“Painful, isn't it?”] the voice chuckled darkly. [“The humans of this pathetic city will suffer ten times this pain if you don't face me. I'll be waiting for you at the National City Power Plant... if you have the courage to come, that is. Or are you going to prove yourself a coward and let innocent people die in your place, daughter of Alura?”]

Then the noise stopped at long last and Kara slowly looked up to find Alex looming over her with a worried look on her face. Unsurprisingly, neither Henshaw nor his two agents had reacted to her strange behaviour. (It vaguely looked like he was just a little concerned about her as well but she had to be imagining that.)

“Kara, what just happened?” Alex asked as she checked Kara over as if she could find some kind of injury if she looked hard enough.

“I...” Still reeling from both the physical pain and the implications of the message that had quite literally been meant for her ears alone, Kara was forced to take a moment to collect herself before she could speak. “I think a Fort Rozz escapee just... contacted me.”

That definitely caught Henshaw's attention. “And what did this alien want?”

“...To kill me, most likely.” From the corner of her eye, Kara saw Alex stiffen in alarm. “He said if I don't meet him at the National City Power Plant, more people are going to get hurt or even die.”

“Thank you for the tip.” He turned and addressed the two agents with him. “Let's go. Hayashi, tell a strike team to meet us there.”

“W-Wait!” Before she could think it over, Kara found herself calling out to him. “He expects to see me and you don't even know what could be waiting for you there!”

Henshaw gave her a dismissive look. “We've been hunting beings like you for over a decade, Kryptonian – some of them wielding powers from your darkest nightmares. Your concern, if that is what it is, is very much misplaced. Whatever is there, we can handle it.”

“But you don't have to,” Kara replied as an admittedly very insane and reckless plan began to form in her head. “Let me go instead.”

“Kara, what the hell do you think you're doing?” Alex hissed, sounding somewhere between fearful and outraged.

Kara ignored her. “I can help you capture him. You and your agents won't have to risk your lives. At the very least, I can weaken him for you; that should make your job easier to some extent.”

If not for her invulnerability, Kara was sure that Alex would be shaking her so hard right now that she would be dizzy. “_Kara, shut up! Just shut up!_”

“And how exactly would you accomplish that?” Henshaw asked with a raised eyebrow. “As you yourself pointed out, none of us have any idea what's waiting for us there. You may have powers but you lack experience in using them in a fight and you certainly don't have any kind of combat training to your name.”

_Oh, if only you knew._ “That's my problem, not yours, isn't it?” Kara replied evenly. “After all, you don't care what happens to me. To you, I'm just another nameless alien for you to capture or kill.”

Henshaw might as well have been carved from granite with the way he was standing there looking at her. “...Very well. However, I think you'll understand if I don't trust your ability to accomplish the task at hand so we'll be going there together.”

Still pointedly ignoring Alex's attempts to hold her back in every possible way, Kara stood tall as she met his gaze unflinchingly. She had some control over the situation now, however little and tenuous, but that was all she needed for the moment. “No. I'll meet you there.”

Then she soared into the sky, taking only a moment to find the direction she should be heading before she flew towards her destination as fast as she could.

In hindsight, maybe she shouldn't have changed out of her catsuit. A T-shirt and sweatpants did not seem like the most practical thing to be wearing when you were about to have a potentially lethal fight with a highly dangerous prison escapee determined to kill you.

_Focus, Kara_, she scolded herself. At her current speed, she would reach the National City Power Plant in no time and she needed every second she had between now and there to go through her plan: beat up whatever alien had contacted her and consequently show Henshaw and the DEO that she could be a useful tool. If she gave them a reason to see her as anything but a dangerous threat, she could potentially avoid whatever fate they had originally planned for her. A relatively free life under intense scrutiny was still better than one in whatever deep dark hole the humans would throw her in... or death after they'd had their fill of turning her into their guinea pig.

That, if everything went smoothly, would just be the beginning.

Fort Rozz had arrived on Earth because of her; it was therefore her responsibility to make sure the aliens who had escaped it and were now causing chaos on this planet were captured again. The downside was that they would be in the hands of the DEO who would do Rao knew what to them but the safety of the innocents they could harm came first. She would be able to help people in a manner similar if not identical to the way Kal-El was able to help Earth as Superman.

Then, when she had earned their trust, she would leverage it to gain access to what was rightfully hers which they had taken from her so many years ago: her pod. With that, she would be able to find out what the Coluan on Fort Rozz had done to it so that it resumed its journey to Earth, recreate it and have the final key to rescuing Mon-El from the Well of Stars.

It was a crazy, reckless and most likely stupid on some level plan and Mon-El was probably going to yell at her when she told him about it later but it was all she had to work with now.

And she _had_ to make it work.

Everything – her life and Mon-El's as well – hung in the balance.

It took her only a few seconds after she landed at her destination and used her X-ray vision to figure out why her opponent had chosen this location for her intended execution.

“Clever,” she called out in Kryptonian as she put her other enhanced senses to use, “picking a spot lined with lead.” So he knew about her powers and their limitations. How? By studying Kal-El? Or had someone else privy to that information fed it to him? “But I can still hear your heartbeat.”

A sudden spike in said heartbeat and a whooshing sound somewhere behind her alerted her to the incoming attack, and she ducked and rolled away just in time to avoid being slammed into the ground. When she got back on her feet, she found herself looking at a very human-looking alien whose only external distinguishing feature was the ridges on his cranium – a Valeronian, perhaps? They didn't have any noteworthy abilities that she knew of aside from above-average physical strength and resilience but she couldn't be complacent. For all she knew, his species gained new powers courtesy of Earth's yellow sun just like hers so she had to be prepared for anything.

Judging by the expression on his face, he was less than pleased that she had managed to avoid his first strike. “On my planet, females bow before males.”

“Unfortunately for you, this isn't your planet,” she bit back, “and even if it was, I still wouldn't do it, Valeronian.”

His scowl deepened. “The name is Vartox, daughter of Alura. You should at least know the name of your executioner.” Then a cruel smile curled his lips. “It's good that you look like your mother. I can't kill her for judging and jailing me so killing you will have to do.”

Irked by his attitude, Kara couldn't help but taunt him. “I'd like to see you try.”

The sound of a helicopter approaching in the far distance caught her attention, and she spent a precious handful of seconds trying to deduce who it might be. A news crew? No, they hadn't caused a scene – yet, anyway – so there was no reason for them to be coming here. It had to be the DEO... which did not exactly work in her favour either. If they were watching, she would have to pretend that she was as inexperienced a fighter as they believed her to be so that they wouldn't get suspicious. That meant potentially letting Vartox hurt her – something she was not particularly keen on doing because she was also trying to avoid looking utterly incompetent and therefore useless.

Of course, there was also the fact that by letting him score a few hits, he could end up damaging her clothes – a thought which made her _really_ uncomfortable. If she ended up half-naked or worse by the end of the fight, she might as well just die of embarrassment then and there. Plus, she lived on a pretty tight budget and that meant saving on clothes shopping whenever she could barring the occasional guilty pleasure. Sure, her current outfit wasn't exactly her favourite but that didn't mean she had to get it ripped up so she could buy replacements.

Grife. Why couldn't _anything_ about tonight be easy?

Movement in front of her dragged her out of her thoughts and she managed to dodge the fist that had been aimed at her head. No more time to think; her best bet would be to fight defensively. Maybe she could just keep her distance, tire him out and then punch him unconscious when he'd been sapped of most his strength.

Naturally, she was the only one of them who was a fan of that strategy.

“_STOP! DODGING!_” Vartox roared as he threw punches and kicks that kept missing their intended target over and over.

“As if I'd do that! And you didn't even ask nicely!” Kara snapped as she kicked some dirt into his eyes before using the distraction to put even more distance between them.

Her actions only served to drive him even madder with rage. “_ENOUGH!_” Reaching behind him, he pulled free the axe that had been strapped to his back. “_This ends now!_”

So he had finally decided to use his weapon. She backed away from him just a little more as she recalled everything she knew about Valeronian weaponry. Made out of Yeowaine metal which was native to the planet Valeron, each weapon was styled according to its owner's preferences. Their one shared characteristic was that all of them were powered by a self-generating atomic charge reaching temperatures up to 2500 degrees that increased the damage every strike caused.

In other words, it would be a really bad idea to get hit even more than before.

Perhaps she could blow it up with her heat vision? No, that would require her to be up close – like 'blade one inch away from her face' close – for a prolonged period of time and she didn't want to take that risk. Plus, her clothes would likely not survive the blast in that scenario and... yeah, that _really_ wasn't an option.

He charged at her with his axe held high, and she used the scant few seconds before he got within range to come up with a new battle strategy. This time, instead of dodging for the sake of dodging, she carefully drew him in the direction of the power plant's batteries she had spotted just before she had landed. _Come on, come on_, she mentally chanted as she watched him get more furious and more reckless with every failed attempt to cleave her in two. She needed him to be too distracted by his anger to figure out what she was up to, and from the look on his face she was succeeding.

Her back hit a battery and Vartox's expression turned into one of cruel satisfaction.

“Stop!” Kara held her hands up to further sell the illusion that he had gained the upper hand at long last. “I give up. Please, I don't want to die.”

The sadistic grin on his face only grew as he held his axe high above his head. “Give your mother my regards.”

She waited until the last second before she ducked and used her superspeed to get away.

Just as she had anticipated, the force of his swing caused his axe to get buried deep in the battery, resulting in an explosion that bowled her over and sent him flying with an agonised scream.

Shaking her head in an attempt to get rid of the ringing, she staggered to her feet and carefully approached his prone form on the ground. Amazingly, he was still alive albeit badly burned... but the same could not be said for his axe which lay in shattered pieces around him. “It's over,” she told him from a safe distance, having learned from her years of training to never underestimate her opponent even when they appeared defeated.

A derisive laugh was his response. “You think I'm the threat?” he sneered. “You have no idea what's coming.”

Then he reached for a jagged and still heated shard of his destroyed axe.

By the time she realised what he intended to do, it was too late. “_No! Stop!_”

With one forceful thrust, he stabbed himself in the chest, fell back onto the ground and drew his last breath.

Stunned silent, she could only stare at his lifeless body. What had he meant by those ominous words? Why had he chosen to end his life the moment he had failed to kill her? How had he even known how to contact her in the first place?

There were so many questions... and her only source of answers had taken them to the grave with him.

Clapping snapped her out of her turbulent thoughts and she whirled around to find Henshaw standing there with a small team of DEO agents behind him. “Not bad, Kryptonian,” he congratulated her in a tone that lacked the corresponding emotion. “You actually managed to do it.”

Kara stiffened but held her head high. Puzzling over Vartox's cryptic words would have to wait. “I did. And now that I've proven myself, I'd like to make a deal with you.”

One of his eyebrows arched. “A deal?”

“Yes. I can help you capture the rest of the Fort Rozz escapees-” _Provided they don't all kill themselves for reasons that elude me_, she thought to herself. “-and in return, I want to be allowed to continue my life as Kara Danvers.”

“...That can be arranged,” he eventually replied much to her relief.

“One more thing,” she quickly added before she lost her nerve. She had this one chance and she couldn't afford to waste it.

Impossibly, the arched eyebrow became even more pronounced. “Making demands, are we?”

“It works in your favour too so hear me out.” When he made no attempt to dismiss her in any way, she took it as a good sign and continued. “As you said earlier, there's no taking back the fact that the world knows I exist now and people will ask questions. So let me take control of the narrative. Let me operate in National City the same way my cousin does in Metropolis. If I give them a story that satisfies their curiosity, they won't go looking for answers on their own and you can continue doing whatever it is you do out of the public eye.”

“Your cousin is known to be fond of causing the occasional incident of wanton destruction,” he pointed out. “The misplaced adoration of the citizens of Metropolis and the positive coverage he gets from the Daily Planet, however, make it difficult for us to hold him accountable. You, on the other hand, do not have those protections and I want assurances that we will not have a similar problem with you.”

In short, the moment she proved to be more trouble than she was worth, she was going to suffer for it. “I can't make any guarantees,” she replied through gritted teeth, “but you have my word that I'll do my utmost best to keep the collateral damage to a minimum.”

For a moment that stretched on for far too long, both of them stared silently at each other before he gave her a small nod. “I'll keep that in mind, Kryptonian... as should you.” Then he turned to his agents. “Begley, Mio, secure the alien's remains. Tahir, collect whatever is left of its weapon. Grant, Abner, inspect the place and give me a full damage report tomorrow.” He paused. “And Danvers... take your sister home.”

That was when Kara realised that her problems were far from over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And the fun's only just beginning... and by "fun" I mean a whole lot of headaches for Kara as she navigates the minefield her life has turned into. ...What do you mean, I like to torment her?! THAT'S A LIE!
> 
> (coughs awkwardly) So how many of you guys expected something like this? Hopefully very few because I aim to keep all of you on your toes for the rest of this arc... and hopefully you continue to enjoy this crazy journey I've brought you all on...
> 
> Season 1 Rant of the Chapter:  
Am I the only one who thinks it's pretty mind-boggling how the show has made us blindly accept Kara working with a government organisation set up exclusively to deal with aliens that was, under its original leader, so xenophobic they went to a foreign country - quite possibly without said country's permission or knowledge - to capture/kill an alien that was content with hiding from the world and posed no threat to anyone? Yes? No? Also, THEY SHOT HER OUT OF THE SKY WITH KRYPTONITE DARTS. WHERE DO I EVEN BEGIN WITH THAT INSANITY?!


	2. Consequences

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time to face the music. ...Well, the rest of it at least.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Consider this a rare treat; I had quite a bit of spare time recently so I decided to spend it hammering this chapter out. Unfortunately, that free time's come to an end so you guys will have to be patient for the next update.

“_Do you have ANY idea what the hell you've done?!_”

Alex barely waited even five seconds after they had gotten into her car before she began her tirade. In fact, it was actually a surprise that it had taken that long for her to snap.

_She's angry because she cares_, Kara told herself in order to try and keep the tears and hurt at bay. “I successfully negotiated for my continued freedom,” she replied in as even a tone as she could manage. She hated fighting with her adoptive sister but backing down was not an option for a multitude of reasons so the only thing she could do was try to be diplomatic. Maybe presenting her argument in a calm and rational manner would help.

The loud smacking sound as Alex's palm hit the steering wheel with so much force it actually shook put a quick end to that hope, however. “_GODDAMNIT, KARA!_” Another slam followed the heated exclamation. “You should've just let me handle it! Not-” Her hand momentarily released its white-knuckled grip on the wheel to wave angrily in the air. “_-be a stupid reckless idiot!_”

Despite telling herself that she should remain calm, Kara found herself getting just a little angry herself. “He wouldn't even let you _speak_. What exactly could you have done?” she asked, unable to keep the edge out of her voice. “And it was my freedom – my _life_ – that was on the line; I think it's not too much to ask that I have the right to make the decisions that affect it.”

Alex's palm made loud and painful contact with the horn this time, and the blaring noise prompted the car in front of them to angrily honk back at them in response. “You don't have _any_ idea what you've gotten yourself into! _I_ do!”

It was a good thing she'd decided against holding on to any part of the car, a small voice at the back of Kara's head commented dispassionately, because it would likely have gotten crushed into dust by now. “That would've been helpful _if you'd told me anything about them sometime before tonight_! Like, say, _the past couple of years you've spent working for them_?!”

“_I was trying to protect you!_ And you didn't need to know!”

“How is working for _the DEO_ – _for that man_ – 'protecting me'?! And maybe I didn't need to know then but I do _now_ so _why don't you just TELL me_?!”

“You had insanely dangerous alien criminals trying to kill you and the DEO was rounding them up! _Of course_ I was going to help them do it even if it meant working for that bastard! Besides, Dad died to let you live a normal life and I wasn't going to let his sacrifice be in vain!”

Just like before, the mention of Jeremiah brought the hurt back tenfold and Kara's tenuous hold on her anger slipped. Everything came back to that, didn't it? So many people had made so many sacrifices in order for her to have the life she had now going back all the way to her birth parents. She had already compromised that by revealing her existence to the world; was her deal with Henshaw just another nail in the coffin that was that normal life instead of a way to keep it?

...No, she couldn't doubt herself now. She had made the decision that she had truly believed at the time was the best possible one under the circumstances; if she wanted to regret it, she could do that later when she had exhausted every possible way she had of making it work in her favour. “...I know that,” she finally managed to muster, “and I don't want you to think I'm not grateful because I am... but... this is _my life_, Alex. My life, my decisions, for better or worse. I... What's done is done; all I'm trying to do is make sure I get to keep the life I have as best as I can.”

“Yeah, well, good luck with that.” Alex's snappish retort was punctuated by the squeal of the car's tires as she braked suddenly.

It was only then that Kara realised they had arrived at her apartment block. Had Alex been speeding? It was the only explanation. “Alex-” she started, seizing what was clearly her last chance to talk things out with her adoptive sister for the night... or a long while.

Alex kept her furious gaze firmly aimed forward and refused to so much as look at Kara. “You're going to regret this soon enough and when you do, don't say I didn't warn you.”

For some unfathomable reason, that cut deeper than all the yelling that had preceded it. Vision slowly but surely getting blurry with tears, Kara quietly unbuckled her seatbelt and exited the car. No goodbyes were said as she closed the door, and the next minute or so was spent standing on the pavement as she watched Alex drive off into the night. Only when the car was completely out of sight did she finally summon the strength to turn away and head inside the building.

“Heavens, dear!”

The exclamation dragged Kara out of the miasma that was her emotions and she looked up to find her landlady standing in the stairwell staring at her with a worried look on her face. “Mrs Needleberg?” she blurted out in shock. “What are you doing up at this hour?”

“Oh, I went to Jenny's,” Mrs Needleberg replied, referring to the rather eccentric old lady who lived in the unit directly under Kara's apartment. “You know how time flies when us girls start chatting about one thing or another. And then there was that news report about that plane and the mysterious woman who saved it... But enough about that; you look like you've been in a fight, Kara!”

_If only you knew how true that is._ “Ah, no,” Kara lied feebly. “I... um, tripped and fell. But I'm fine. There's no need to worry.”

Instead of being reassured, Mrs Needleberg continued to eye her with a great deal of concern. “You don't _look_ fine.”

It took Kara a moment to realise the exact state she was in – clothes covered in dirt stains, hair somewhat of a mess, glasses missing (she'd forgotten to put them on before she'd left the apartment), eyes red with unshed tears – and how it could be interpreted by someone who had no idea what she'd actually been through. “Oh. _Oh!_ Oh no, no, it's not... _that_, I promise. It's just...” She faltered and dropped her gaze as she opted for a half-truth to explain her dishevelled appearance. Besides, she was feeling too low at the moment to wait to see Mon-El again and have a shoulder to lean on with whom she could share the whole story. “I, um... I had a fight with Alex.”

“Oh dear.” The nature of Mrs Needleberg's concern changed but not its intensity. “I can see why that would make you particularly upset.”

“Yeah,” Kara mumbled as she scuffed the floor with the toe of her shoe. Mrs Needleberg had siblings of her own and Alex had come by often enough for her to be aware of how close the Danvers sisters were so she knew how badly this was affecting Kara.

“Well.” Mrs Needleberg's simple statement brought Kara's attention back to the present and she looked up again to find the old woman wearing a decidedly resolute expression. “I've had my share of arguments with my own sisters – _ooh_, the fights I used to get into with Ruth drove our parents _crazy_ – so I know how you feel. But I have no doubt that just like I did with my sisters, the two of you will eventually work things out. All you need is some time apart to cool down.” She looked Kara over from head to toe. “A bath, clean clothes and some sleep wouldn't hurt either.”

The hidden truth in the last part of that advice and the fact that its significance was apparent only to Kara made the corners of her lips twitch. “Yeah, I think I'll do that. Goodnight, Mrs Needleberg. And thank you.”

“Goodnight, dear, and you're very welcome,” Mrs Needleberg replied warmly.

Although she did in fact take another bath and change into a clean set of pyjamas, Kara held off on going to sleep for the moment. As much as she wanted – _needed_, really – to update Mon-El about the latest developments in her life, there was something else she had to do first. (Well, aside from give St'rki a belly rub as an apology for nearly trampling him underfoot which he thankfully accepted albeit with a glare warning her to never do it again.)

With a great deal of dread, she retrieved her phone and switched it back on.

Almost immediately, it cheerfully informed her that she had several dozen more missed calls and messages than before.

But at least it wasn't ringing again. Yet, anyway. That was something to be thankful for in light of everything.

_Okay, enough stalling, Kara_, she scolded herself as she dropped herself onto the couch and took a deep breath to calm herself. _Just get it over with as soon as possible before you lose your nerve and make things worse for yourself._

...Then again, no one said she had to start by returning the calls from the people who were most likely to give her an earful about her recent actions _first_...

With that in mind, she scrolled through her contact list and tapped a familiar name.

“_OH THANK GOD!_” Eve's relieved exclamation the moment she picked up was almost deafening. “You sure took your time returning my call, missy! Do you have _any_ idea how worried I was that something had happened to you after you'd flown off?! I'd started to think you'd gotten caught and I was _this_ close to making plans to storm Area 51 so I could rescue you!”

The ridiculousness of Eve's statement caused the corners of Kara's lips to curl ever so slightly. “You know Area 51's just a silly urban myth and the government doesn't actually keep aliens there, right?”

“Yeah, well, maybe that's just what they want you to think! And it would've at least been _somewhere_ to start, wouldn't it?” Eve huffed in annoyance. A brief pause followed, and when she spoke again her voice was much more sombre. “Seriously though, what happened between you taking off from there and now? It can't have taken you that long to get home and calm down enough to call me back, right?”

Whatever good humour created by Eve's earlier declaration evaporated and Kara's shoulders slumped as she buried her head in her free hand. “...No, I got home pretty fast but I was a little too out of it to call you back immediately after I saw your message, sorry. I... took a nap instead,” she explained, knowing Eve would get the hint.

“Oh, I see.” Eve's tone immediately became one of understanding. “Did it help?”

“It did. But...” Doubt made Kara hesitate, unsure as to how much she could tell Eve about what had happened next. With Henshaw confirming that the DEO still kept tabs on her to some extent, how safe was it to tell Eve what had happened? Then again, Eve had encountered them herself so she already knew about the agency... and then there was the matter of Alex... “...It didn't last all that long. I had to meet the DEO to discuss how we were going to deal with this whole thing.”

Taking advantage of Eve's shocked silence, she blurted out the rest of the truth before she could reconsider it. “Alex works for them.” Telling everyone seemed like a bad idea since she had no idea how they would react to it but Eve was unlikely to confront Alex about it so it should be safe to share this detail with her. Although there was also Vartox's cryptic last words... but she would deal with that later.

“...But _why_?” Eve asked when she finally found her voice again. “Why would she do that?”

“To protect me.” A sound that was something between a tired sigh and a bitter laugh escaped Kara. “At least, that's what she said. Among other things.” Her fingers slowly massaged her temples in an effort to stave off the oncoming headache. “It's... Things between us are a little... messy right now.”

“Understatement of the year there,” Eve commented dryly.

“Yeah, I know. But that's... I'll deal with that later. Anyway, I kind of... worked something out with the DEO so-”

“Wait, wait, wait. Back up a bit. Did I just hear you say you '_worked something out_' with them? Should I be worried here?”

“No.” Kara paused. “Um... well, actually...”

“...Okay, see, _that_? That is not making me any less worried. Kara, what did you do?”

“...I told them I'd help them recapture all the aliens who escaped from Fort Rozz in exchange for not putting me in a cell or turning me into a lab rat.”

A long period of silence ensued. “...So basically you're going to be doing the exact same thing Alex has been doing the past couple of years. And I'm going to assume this is why the two of you fought.”

Kara raised her head and stared blankly at nothing in particular. “...Well, it sounds kind of dumb when you put it that way...”

“You don't say?” The sound of a heavy sigh slightly distorted by static reached Kara's ears. “Okay, I admit I'm not in the best position to say anything since I'm essentially an outside party in all this but... Just tell me this is the best way forward, please? You're the smartest person I know so I'll take your word for it if you tell me there's nothing for me to worry about.”

“It's the best way forward that I can manage,” Kara replied, choosing to go with optimistic honesty instead of tempting fate. “I promise I'll be okay, Eve. You don't have to worry about me.”

“Yeah, and I bet that completely reassures _some people_ when you tell them that.” There was no need to guess who specifically Eve was referring to, of course. “...But like I said, you're the smartest person I know and I trust you to know what you're doing. So... be safe, okay? And tell me if there's anything I can do to help. That's what best friends are for, after all.”

“I know. I will.” Kara allowed herself a small smile. “I'm really glad you're my best friend, Eve.” Then she happened to glance at her clock. “And as your best friend, I'm going to stop unloading my troubles on you now so you can go to sleep because I distinctly remember you have a big presentation tomorrow morning.”

“Huh? Oh crap, you're right. We'll continue this conversation tomorrow, okay? Get some sleep yourself; I think you've earned it.”

“After this,” Kara promised. “I... kind of have a few things to settle first. Goodnight.”

_One down_, she thought to herself as she ended the call before staring at her contacts list. _Too many to go._

Who should she call next?

For a moment, her finger hovered over Kal-El's number... before she scrolled past and pressed another name.

“Well, well, well.” The voice on the other end of the line was so dry it made the Sahara Desert look like the Challenger Deep. “Look who finally remembered she owns a phone.”

Kara cringed at the indirect accusation and instinctively curled into herself. “I'm sorry, Selina. I swear I meant to call back earlier.”

“Uh huh. Sure. You know, I think you owe me one now considering you've forced me to deal with not one but _two_ paranoid men who are very worried sick about you.”

Oh Rao. “...How bad is it?” Kara timidly asked even though she was almost afraid to know the answer.

“Well, I think poor Alfred had a heart attack when he saw you on the news, for one. And as for Bruce... Let's just say the Batwing was just about ready to take off for National City when I told him in no uncertain terms that if he didn't get that butt of his out of the cockpit in five seconds, I was going to sleep in my own bed alone _and_ walk around Wayne Manor in nothing but lingerie for a whole month.”

Despite the seriousness of the situation at large, Kara found herself turning bright red at the unwelcome oversharing of information. “I didn't need to know that...”

“Consider it a bit of advice on how to handle your hypothetical boyfriend in the future,” Selina replied in that breezy way of hers.

A rebellious part of Kara's brain tried to imagine what would happen if she ever attempted to pull a stunt like that with Mon-El. However, it was shut down with extreme prejudice before it could get anywhere substantial. “Thanks but no thanks.”

“Suit yourself.” There was a moment of silence before Selina continued, but this time the woman sounded much more appropriately serious. “I take it things are reasonably okay now if you're able to finally call me back.”

“...For the most part, yeah,” Kara hedged as she tried to figure out a way to address the elephant in the room.

“No problems from our friends in black then?”

Straight to business. Right. _Here goes nothing..._ “...I, um, had to make a deal with them to remain free.”

Dead silence.

“...Selina?”

“...What kind of deal are we talking here?”

Holes and shovels came to mind for some reason. “...I'm going to help them recapture the Fort Rozz escapees.”

More agonising silence.

“...Please say something.”

“...Okay, now you _really_ owe me for apparently being prescient and convincing Alfred and Bruce to stop bombarding you with calls or even just doing anything in particular regarding your situation for now.”

“Oh. Um. Thanks, Selina.”

“I was mostly doing it for my own sanity but you're welcome.”

Guilt gnawed away at Kara and she tried to distract herself by plucking at a loose thread on her pyjamas with her free hand. “...How are they right now?”

“Honestly? Alfred's wearing a hole in the floor of the study, I think, and the last time I saw Bruce he was in the Batcave obsessively monitoring a dozen different things on who knows how many different transmission channels or whatever it is was on those screens.”

The guilt multiplied tenfold as Kara tried to make herself as small as possible on her couch. “I'm sorry, I should-”

“Oh no,” Selina was quick to cut Kara off, having realised what she was about to say. “I'm extending that 'no communications' ban to include you as well. All three of you are forbidden from speaking to one another until everyone has calmed down enough to talk rationally without any risk of someone saying something they're going to regret later.”

Kara immediately thought of Alex. “...Yeah, I guess you're right.”

“Of course. I'm _always_ right.” The put-on haughtiness in Selina's voice made Kara smile ever so slightly, and there was a moment of companionable silence before she spoke again in a much gentler tone. “In any case, you know we're here for you if you need us, right? Well, like I said, it's a bad idea to call the other two in this house for now but just let me know if there's anything we can do to help on our end.”

“...Well...” Kara faltered as she chose her next words carefully. “I, uh... I think I might need a suit of my own now? Something a little more durable than... everything I have at the very least.”

“Mm, yes, your catsuit _was_ designed for stealth and not combat after all.”

“So... um...” Kara fidgeted as she wondered if Selina was being oblivious on purpose. “Can I ask... Do you know anything about Clark's suit? I know Mrs Kent made his first one but the suit he's using now is made out of a special kind of material, isn't it?”

“Yes, but all I know is Bruce helped with it in some way. Give me a few days and I'll broach the subject with him. He should be a little less... well, _Bruce_ by then and won't have an aneurysm when he figures out why I'd be asking him about it.”

“Thanks, Selina. I guess I owe you another one for that.”

“Consider that one a freebie since all I'll be doing is asking a question. On that note, have you called Clark yet?”

Selina's seemingly innocuous question caused Kara to cringe again. “...No... but I was planning on doing that after this.”

“Well, try not to take too long to work up the courage. I don't think Lois can keep him from flying over to check on you for much longer.”

The thought of what the DEO might do if Superman showed up in National City on the same night she had struck her deal with them made Kara shudder. “I'll get right on it. Goodnight, Selina, and thanks again for everything.”

“You're welcome and goodnight, Kara.”

After ending that call, Kara gave herself a few minutes to put herself in the right frame of mind before she did as she'd promised and finally called her cousin.

Surprisingly, it was Lois who picked up. “Kara! Thank goodness! Are you okay?! Wait, hold on just a moment. Clark! Clark, she's on the phone! Get away from that window right this second!”

...Apparently she had called just in time. “Hi, Lois,” Kara replied, resisting the urge to sigh audibly as her free hand came up to massage away the headache that had made its unwelcome return. “I'm f-”

“_KARA!_” Kal-El's worried exclamation was so loud she actually winced and was forced to pull the phone away from her ear. “Are you injured?! Why didn't you pick up earlier?! And why did you take so long to call back?! Do you need me to come over-”

“_No!_” A small part of her wondered which of them had been more startled by her sudden outburst but it was quickly silenced as she took advantage of his surprise to continue uninterrupted. “I'm fine, Clark, I promise. You don't have to come over. In fact, it would be better if you didn't come anywhere near National City for a while. Or... ever, really. Unless absolutely necessary, that is. By which I mean I'll call and tell you when I need your help but otherwise it would be better for both of us if you stayed in Metropolis.”

His confusion was so great it felt like it was coming out of the phone in visible waves. “...What? What do you mean by that? Kara, what's going on?”

She took a deep breath and sent a silent prayer to Rao. “...I made a deal with the DEO to help them recapture the Fort Rozz escapees in exchange for my continued freedom. They expressed their dislike for you quite clearly so please don't get me into trouble with them before I've even started earning whatever goodwill they're willing to extend to me.”

“_...You WHAT?!_”

“It's done, Clark,” she told him in as firm a voice as she could muster. “You can't do anything about it. And for the record, I _want_ to help them do this because as the person who brought them to Earth in the first place even if unintentionally, I feel it's my responsibility to clean up this mess.”

“But Kara, these are _hardened criminals with powers_ we're talking about!” he sputtered. “You have no combat training of any kind! On top of that, we don't even know if you can rely on the DEO to provide you with backup! This is... _This is suicide!_”

Only the knowledge that she would have to explain at length everything related to Mon-El and the dream world and consequently have even more problems on her hands kept her from correcting him. “I did fine just now without any backup so I think I'll be okay.”

“...Wait, what do you mean 'just now'?”

Oh Rao. “...One of the escapees kind of contacted me and threatened to hurt people if I didn't fight him. But I beat him without sustaining a single injury so you really don't have to worry about me.”

“If anything, I'm even _more_ worried about you now! Kara, one of the main reasons we worked so hard to hide you was because we knew they'd come after you the moment they found out about you. If they're calling you out like this...”

“I know. I understand your concern, Clark, and I want you to know that while I'm really grateful for it I need you to trust me to be able to handle this on my own.” A weary sigh left her lips. “Clark, I'm not twelve any more. I need you to trust me to take care of myself.”

There was a moment of sombre silence before he finally answered. “...All right. I just...” He sighed as well. “It's hard for me to stop wanting to protect you.”

“I know, and I appreciate it, I really do. Just... not so much right now, if you get what I mean.”

“I get it. And... I suppose as long as you promise to call the moment you need a hand.”

“I will.”

“Or even just some advice-”

“_Goodnight, Clark._ Oh, and thank Lois for helping to keep you from doing something regrettable for me please.”

“Wait-”

The phone didn't ring again after she ended the call, and for that she was immensely grateful. Whether it was because Kal-El had gotten the hint or Lois had intervened again she could not say but either way, she was going to consider that one settled.

Now it was time to make the hardest call of all.

With as much courage as she could muster, she tapped Eliza's number and mentally prepared a lengthy apology.

Except Eliza didn't pick up. Not even after three tries.

Kara didn't know if that made her feel relieved or troubled.

But as there was nothing else she could do, she decided to just try again tomorrow morning and finally go to sleep.

After all, she might be done making calls for the day but there was one last person who needed to know what had transpired since she had last seen him...

* * *

The moment Kara materialised in the dream world, she found herself wrapped up in a familiar tight hug and her head filled with blue-grey energy that was radiating pure relief.

“Thank the gods!” Before she could fully appreciate the gesture or even react, Mon-El had released her so that he could check her for injuries from head to toe although his hands continued to cradle her head. “You're wearing pyjamas! That means you're okay and at home, right? I mean, I don't think the DEO is the warm fuzzy type to let you be comfortable in whatever holding cell they have that they'd let you wear those-”

“Mon-El, I'm okay,” she quickly tried to reassure him both with her words and through their connection as she clasped his hands. “I'm okay. They didn't do anything to me. I'm free and I'm back in my apartment. You can stop worrying for now.”

The blue-grey energy slowly but surely calmed down at that, and he sighed so heavily that his whole body sagged as if a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. “Okay, that's... that's good. That's just... really good.” Then a tendril of curiosity wove its way into the sea of calm and he raised his head to meet her gaze once more. “So how did the discussion go exactly? I mean, it's obvious you managed to negotiate some kind of agreement with them since you're here but what are the terms?”

Oh Rao. “Um, before I do that,” she hedged as she mentally prepared for a very extreme but at the same time expected reaction from him, “I'd like you to promise me that you won't yell.”

He stared blankly at her as the blue-grey energy suddenly stilled before his hands released her and he stepped back, breaking their connection in the process. As regrettable as that was, she had a feeling she was going to be very grateful for it in no time. “...I already don't like where this conversation is going. Why do I have to make that promise?”

“I'm not telling you until you do it,” she told him as firmly as she could although she was very aware that her voice was betraying her by sounding somewhere between nervous and begging.

For an inordinate amount of time, he just continued to stare at her with a mixture of suspicion and dread before he closed his eyes and became the very picture of resignation. “...Fine. I promise not to yell no matter what you say. Now just... tell me what you did.”

The insinuation that she had had to extort such a promise from him because she'd erred in some way would have irked her if not for the fact that she was a little too relieved that he had caved to her demands. “Okay, so, um... I'm going to tell you everything from the beginning because I want you to get the whole picture and I don't want to hide anything from you-”

“Kara, you're stalling,” he accused with narrowed eyes.

“Am not!” she replied automatically but that only earned her a more withering stare which caused whatever courage she had left to wilt rather impressively. “A Fort Rozz escapee contacted me while I was in the middle of my negotiations with Henshaw so I took the opportunity to volunteer and capture him for the DEO,” she said in a rush, hoping against hope that he would miss a few details if she talked fast enough.

Naturally, he heard everything if the way his eyes bulged was any indication. “...You did _ what_.”

“It was _ one _ Valeronian! And he didn't even land a single hit on me!” she tried to calm him down.

Her assurances failed to work. In fact, it only made his shock revert back to suspicion. “...There's more, isn't there.”

She swallowed nervously. “...I made a deal with Henshaw to help him capture the rest of the escapees in exchange for letting me stay free.”

This time, the bulging of his eyes was accompanied by a gurgling noise that continued for a while before he buried his head in his hands.

“...Mon-El?” she whispered when he stayed like that for quite some time. It was starting to get very worrying because he looked like he was close to ripping his hair out. Which would be a shame because he had really soft hair that she liked running her fingers through... but that wasn't something she should be thinking about right now.

Nothing. He might as well have been a statue.

“...Mon-”

“Kara,” he cut her off in a very strained voice without even lifting his head, “I'm trying to keep my promise not to yell so please... just... give me some time here. _ Please?_”

“Oh,” she said in a very small voice. “Um. Okay.”

Another stretch of awkward silence ensued where the only movement in the dream world was the gentle swaying of the grass and Kara shuffling her feet.

Eventually, Mon-El's entire body heaved as he let out a very loud and heavy sigh. “...Okay.” He raised his head and dragged one of his hands down his face which still wore a rather pained expression. “Okay. I'm ready to hear the rest now.”

Letting out her own albeit much softer sigh of relief, Kara took the win and continued. “There's not much else to tell. Henshaw brought up the fact that people will start asking questions about me now that they know I exist and I said I'd take care of it. I mean, I haven't figured out how exactly I'm going to do that yet but it'll at least let me help people out in the open like I've always wanted to do.”

His eyes narrowed slightly. “...Like your cousin?”

“Something like that?” she hedged. “As I said, I haven't really worked that part out yet.”

He narrowed his eyes even further to the point they were practically slits. “...And what else?”

Of course he'd be able to figure out there was even more... and if she was being honest with herself, it was this part that she was most worried about telling him. “...I plan to eventually leverage this partnership to get my pod back.”

It took him only a heartbeat to connect the dots and his expression became one of anguish. “_Kara-_”

“It wasn't my main motivation!” she argued before he could even begin. “I just thought I'd take advantage of the opportunity that was being presented to me!”

“You're talking about... about _ infiltrating enemy territory to acquire something they'll most likely be guarding with at least a dozen security measures_! Security measures that – and I shouldn't have to tell you this – would be specifically designed to keep _ you _ from going anywhere near your pod!”

“I don't need the pod itself! All I have to do is find a way to copy all the data in its system so I can analyse it at my own time somewhere safe!” Never mind that she did in fact hope to someday reclaim what was rightfully hers; that would come much later when she could do so without serious repercussions.

“That alone is beyond dangerous! Kara...” The look on his face made her heart break. “You promised me you wouldn't risk your life to save me.”

“And I'm not,” she replied gently but firmly. “I _ will _ keep my promise to you. I'll be careful and I won't take any unnecessary risks. But Mon-El... you can't ask me to ignore a chance like this.”

“But-” he began to protest.

“Do you trust me?” she asked him simply even as she silently begged him to stop fighting her on this matter.

Impossibly, the anguish written in the lines on his face became even more pronounced and heartbreaking. Despite this, he eventually lowered his head in resignation. “...Yes.”

“Thank you,” she whispered gratefully. “I won't betray that trust. You have my word.”

“Are you sure you won't regret this?”

His unexpected question surprised her to such an extent that it took her a while to put together a response. “...Regret taking an acceptable risk to rescue you?”

“No, I mean-” he waved a hand vaguely in the air, “-working with the DEO.”

“Oh.”

“I know you're partially doing it because you feel responsible for Fort Rozz's criminals being on Earth but...” He turned away and dragged a hand down his face before he continued. “This is the DEO we're talking about. Even if we put aside your personal history with them, the things we know they do...”

Now it was her turn to be unable to look at him. “I know,” she mumbled with a heavy heart as guilt and unease snaked their way into her mind. “But... I have to believe that it's a necessary evil.”

“It's just...”

The way he sounded so... _ broken_... made her look at him again whereupon she found him still turned away with his blue-grey eyes unfocused. She knew that look all too well and just like always, seeing it made her heart clench. He had gone somewhere far away again – a life far in the past filled with pain and sorrow that was still all too fresh in his memory – and she would have to tread carefully if she wanted to bring him back to her without unintentionally reopening any old wounds in the process. “...Mon-El?”

“I don't remember when exactly I started to really give up but... There was a part of me that still believed even... even after everything... that if I tried... It didn't have to be anything significant, I told myself.” A bitter and uncharacteristic chuckle full of self-loathing escaped him. “I couldn't commit even just a bit more effort than the bare minimum as usual. But I thought that... that if every now and then I played the part of the prince that my parents wanted me to be – if I did what they expected of me even if I didn't like it or agree with it, they'd... they'd...”

Her heart raged in her chest, torn between aching for him and welling with hatred for what his parents had put him through. “Mon-El...”

He turned to face her again, but the distant look in his eyes made her wonder if he was seeing her or someone else. “I made so many decisions that I thought on some level were sensible – acceptable because of the situation – but I've come to regret them _ so much _ and I know that I'll spend the rest of my life repenting for them and I... I don't... _ I don't want you to end up like me._”

“_Hey._” In an instant, she had closed the distance between them and cupped his face with one hand while the other reached for his. All at once, his grief and agony flooded her head, and if she hadn't mentally prepared herself for it she was sure she would have drowned in it all. “Don't say that. Especially not because despite it all, I still think you turned out fine.”

A flicker of irritation unexpectedly made its presence known amidst the blue-grey sea as he frowned slightly at her. “I'm being serious, Kara.”

“As am I.” She pushed all the love and affection she held in her heart for him through their connection as she tried to rescue him from the shadows of his past. “Mon-El, everything you've been through – everything your parents put you through – didn't stop you from trying to comfort a complete stranger who also happened to be from an enemy planet even after she accused you of the worst possible things. And ever since then, you've proven yourself again and again to be the kind of man Bal-Seg always knew you were deep down – a good man who has never once tried to deny that he screwed up and wants to make amends for it the first chance he gets. The kind of man _ I _ know you are – the man that I fell in love with.”

She paused to let it all sink in and was heartened when a glimmer of light – of hope – returned to his eyes and the blue-grey energy. “As for my own situation, I can't claim that I'll always make the best possible decision especially in an undefined moment of crisis in the future. Maybe I'll do something I'll eventually regret despite my best efforts. But I would _ never _ compromise my morals or my beliefs no matter how difficult things might get. You know that.”

“I do,” he replied all too readily as the blue-grey energy in her head let out a pulse of reassurance that spoke of his faith in her. “It's just... I worry.”

“You _ always _ worry,” she allowed herself to tease him just a little and was rewarded with a half-hearted scowl and a wave of annoyance coming through their connection. “I'll be fine, Mon-El, I promise. Even if things get dire, I have you and everyone else to support and advise me. So believe in me and yourself, okay?”

“...Fine,” he finally caved with another heavy sigh.

“Thank you.” Then she did what she'd wanted to do for far too long and threw her arms around him to give him a tight hug that he naturally reciprocated. “I'm already fighting with Alex about this and I really didn't want us to be the same way.”

“Mm, I can understand why she'd be upset,” he murmured. “But the two of you will work things out eventually, I'm sure of it. Just give her some time to cool down.”

She sighed into his chest and snuggled deeper into his embrace. “I know.”

A comfortable silence blanketed them as they stayed like that for a short eternity before Kara brought it to an end.

“...So...”

“Hmm?”

“I won a fight.”

“Yes, you've mentioned that.”

“...Well?”

“Well what?”

“I'm pretty sure that means I deserve a reward.”

“It was a single Valeronian. The last time you fought their kind in the arena, there were three and one of them had a sledgehammer the size of your head. What was your opponent using?”

“...An axe.”

“How terrifying.”

“It's still a win! And I won by making him bury his axe in a giant battery so it would blow up in his face! I never threw a single punch or kick!”

“So basically you want to be rewarded for winning a fight where you didn't even actually fight.”

“My dodging was perfect. And I _ did _ mention that I made him blow himself up, right? I mean, he killed himself after saying some cryptic stuff I'll tell you about later but that's not the point. Anyway, I think that earns me-”

He shut her up with a kiss.

Considering that had been her goal, she was perfectly fine with that.

* * *

The reasonably good mood that Kara woke up with did not last for long.

Mon-El had grimly agreed that Vartox's final words were ominous but a lack of information meant there was little she could do about it for now. She would have to unfortunately wait until something else connected to the Valeronian and whatever plot he was involved in was revealed before she could make any further progress on that front.

However, that was not what had ruined her morning before it had even really begun.

Every television channel was still playing footage of the plane incident on infinite loop as newscasters asked variations of, “Who is the mystery flying woman who saved the plane?”

It was a nightmare.

Keeping her head down, she tried to make herself as small as possible as she set foot inside CatCo and made her way past security. She was wearing her glasses, her hair was partially tied up and the outfit she had chosen to wear that morning was neither black nor form-fitting. Hopefully it would be enough to prevent any of her colleagues and especially Ms Grant from recognising her face as the one plastered on all the screens, papers and websites.

“Relying on the collective idiocy of the human race to keep your identity a secret, I see,” Mon-El had commented dryly when she had told him of her 'plan' to prevent people from connecting Kara Danvers to the woman in the news.

(She had smacked him in the face with a pillow for that.)

“Despite extensive efforts, no one has been able to identify who, or rather, what she is,” the newscaster on the television in the office said just as she exited the lift and scuttled to her desk. Okay, so far, so good. She'd told Henshaw that she would handle the fallout of her little stunt where the news was concerned but hadn't had a chance to actually figure out the 'how' just yet. If she could just get through today and buy herself time to make a proper plan, she would be okay.

At least, that was what she told herself.

Actually _ succeeding_, on the other hand...

“I know many of you are used to being second best but it's new to me.” Unsurprisingly, Ms Grant had wasted no time ordering Kara to summon all the relevant department heads for a morning meeting about the only topic anyone seemed capable of discussing at the moment. (Kara had never before in her life wished so hard that one of her many powers included invisibility as she pretended to be diligently taking notes off to the side.) “The most incredible event in the history of National City and yet we have no exclusive of any kind.”

Cringing, Kara tried even harder to curl into herself without being too obvious as she prepared to have her cover taken apart piece by piece.

She was, however, given cause for relief... or not, depending on how one chose to look at it.

“It's not like we have much to go on,” Sawyer from the IT department tried to defend himself. “All the images we have to work with are either really blurry or low resolution.”

Thank Rao for primitive human technology.

“Maybe she's a high school or university student,” Eunice from Marketing suggested. “I mean, she _ is _ wearing a backpack.”

High school or university? Was she supposed to feel flattered or insulted by that?

...Grife. Her backpack. She'd totally forgotten about the documents she'd stolen from that scammer Randall. If she didn't hand them off to the police soon, there was a good chance he would realise something was up, skip town and just start again somewhere else.

“Working adults use backpacks too, you know,” Chen from the Account department pointed out, pulling Kara back to the present in the process. “On that note, I'd say she's around 5' 9”. Although it's tough to gauge when all you have to measure her up against is a half-submerged aeroplane.”

“Her hair colour's definitely brown. Or black,” Raj from Production hastily tacked on.

“Or maybe her hair's just dirty,” Snapper ground out as he glared at the rest of them in a way that made it clear he thought he was surrounded by idiots – not including Ms Grant, of course. “You know, from the soot? Or have you all forgotten _ the engine that was on fire_?”

“Excellent point,” Ms Grant noted with a smile before she turned slightly so that she could gesture towards the wall of screens behind her. “Do you think there's any connection between this woman and-”

“-Metropolis' boy scout in blue?” Snapper finished. “Hard to say. We don't have anything solid to go on and last I checked, he hasn't made any kind of statement to the Daily Planet.”

Kara silently breathed a sigh of relief. At least Kal-El was keeping his promise to let her handle things on her own... even if Lois was probably the one making sure he did so.

“Maybe she's a metahuman,” Raj piped up in an apparent attempt to salvage his standing with Ms Grant.

“Metahumans are an urban myth,” Ms Grant shot him down without even turning to face him.

“Higher chances is she's an alien,” Snapper agreed in his usual gruff manner.

“Do you think she'll show up if something bad happens again?” Eunice asked, intrigued. “I mean, Metropolis and Gotham have their own superheroes so why not National City too?”

Sawyer snorted. “Seriously? It doesn't even look like she has a proper suit. Not to mention the fact that Otto Binder Bridge is a complete mess thanks to her incompetence. Do we really want a klutz of a rookie trashing our city?”

_ You try saving a plane perfectly on your first try_, Kara seethed internally as she glared daggers at Sawyer, momentarily forgetting that she was supposed to be focusing on other more important things.

Thankfully, Snapper's next statement brought her back to reality. “I don't put much stock into this superhero nonsense but if last night was any indication, there's a good chance another grand-scale accident will draw her out again.”

Ms Grant scowled. “Well, she'd better. This girl-” she pointed at the screens even as Kara ducked her head back down, “-is the answer. She is exactly what I need to save the Tribune and avoid the hassle that comes with downsizing. Besides fatty foods, there is nothing people love more than a hero.”

_ Great_, Kara thought dully to herself. _ So now I'm going to be saving lives AND jobs. No pressure there. _

“We are going to blow her up,” Ms Grant continued.

In her corner, Kara cringed both at the directive and the choice of words.

“We will feature her online and in the paper.”

Kara cringed again.

“But we need _ images_. We need _ video_. We need _ an interview_. And...” Ms Grant paused for dramatic effect while Kara contemplated blasting a hole in the floor with her heat vision so she could escape, consequences be damned. “_Exclusive content._” She turned to face everyone again and waved her hand dismissively. “So go. Go get me that girl. And Keira.”

The brief flicker of hope and relief that had bloomed in Kara's chest at the chance of escaping died a quick death as she froze in her tracks. Sparing everyone else a forlorn look as they went back to their respective offices, she slowly turned to face Ms Grant again. “...Yes, Ms Grant?”

“I want you to book a table for two at the Hanaoka tonight at six,” Ms Grant ordered as a Cheshire smile began to form on her face. “If all goes according to plan, I'll have secured our new Art Director _ and _ stuck it to Perry in one fell swoop.”

Too relieved at the fact that she had escaped with her secret intact, Kara paid little attention to the small details in that command. (She would come to regret this later.) “I'll get right on it, Ms Grant.”

That relief was short-lived as none other than Winn ambushed her with a manic grin just as she finished making the reservation. “Kara! Guess what?”

Kara stared blankly at him, her brain a little too preoccupied with everything to do with her situation to think of a good answer. “...The new X-Men comic is out already?”

“What? _ No!_” He gave her a look that implied she'd personally offended him. “It's only out on- Wait, that's not what I came here to talk about!”

“Well, I'm out of ideas so just tell me already,” she replied as she threw her hands up in the air, a little too frazzled to play along.

“Gee, someone's touchy today.” Before she could respond to that in any way, however, he shook his head and his manic grin returned. “You were at the meeting, right? You must have heard how my entire department's been working on the images of the woman who saved that plane. And for the record, I totally think she's an alien.”

Dread began to form in the pit of her stomach. “...Yes...?”

He threw a few furtive glances around them before leaning in to whisper his great revelation. “I think I might be able to do it.”

The dread slowly but surely transformed into horror. “...Y-You don't mean...”

“Get a clear image of her face? Yes I do,” he confirmed her worst fears with a proud grin.

Without a second thought, she shot up from her chair, grabbed his wrist and began dragging him towards the lift. “I need to talk to you.”

“Wh- _ Owowowowow! _ Hey, watch the hand! Also, _ wow_, Kara, you're really strong. I mean, like, _ really _ strong- Wait, where are we going again?” he finally asked when he realised he'd been all but shovelled into the lift and they were heading up instead of down.

Unfortunately for him, she was too mired in her own chaotic thoughts to respond. All she could think about was how unprepared she was to have this conversation... and how afraid she was of his reaction. Winn was a really nice and sweet guy who had been a truly welcome friendly face at CatCo but how exactly would he take the news that she wasn't who she'd been pretending to be throughout their friendship? Would he be hurt? Would he agree to keep her secret? Would he understand the danger knowing her secret would likely put him in? But then there was the matter of the DEO; what would they do to him if she didn't intervene?

There were too many variables and not enough time to figure out all the possible outcomes.

She would just have to put her faith in him and hope for the best.

“The roof?” he noted as he nervously looked around and stayed close to the door they had just exited. “Kara? Hey, uh... Just... Whatever you have to say, can you make it quick? I'm not really into being this high up.”

“There's something I have to tell you,” she blurted without preamble. “A-And I... I'm going to apologise in advance for hiding it from you for so long but it was really important that I...” She faltered as her nerves began to get to her. “Can you forgive me? Can you... Can you trust me? And can I trust you?”

Sensing that she was distressed and needed him to take her seriously, he straightened up. “Yeah. Yeah, of course.”

“Okay. Okay.” She scrubbed her face with her hands as she summoned the few scraps of courage she had left. “First of all... Whatever it is you were going to do to clear up the image of the woman who saved that plane? I need you to do me a favour. I need you to not do it. _ Please._”

Surprise turned into confusion with just the slightest bit of hurt. “What? Why?”

“Because...” _ Just say it, Kara. _ “Because I'm her. I'm the woman who saved the plane.”

For a long while, he just stared at her with a blank look on his face before a disbelieving chuckle slipped out of him. “Okay. Yeah, sure. Right. Good one, Kara.”

Of course. Why had she expected him to believe her just like that? “It's true, Winn. I swear I'm not joking.”

“Come on, Kara.” He turned away to head back towards the door, wry grin still in place. “Give it up already. I mean, you nearly had me there for a moment but that's it.”

Maybe it was a good thing she'd dragged him up to the roof because it looked like she was going to have to go the extra mile just to convince him. “Fine. I guess I'll just have to prove it to you.”

“What do you-” The rest of his sentence died in his throat when he turned around again to face her only to find her standing right in front of him. “What-”

Without letting him say another word, she grabbed him securely around the waist and flew up just enough that they were floating several feet off the roof.

“_Ohmygod!_” He was frozen stiff, eyes wide with terror as they darted down and around him. “_Ohmygodohmygodohmygod!_”

“Do you believe me now?” she asked him with just the slightest bit of weariness.

“_Yes!_” he practically squeaked. “C-Can you, uh... put me down now please?”

“Right. Sorry.” Okay, maybe she'd gone a little overboard... but it had been the only method she could come up with to convince him on such short notice. ...Well, there had been the option of throwing herself off the roof but the possibility of someone on one of the lower floors seeing her fall and then fly up past their window had made it too risky.

“Oh my god.” He fell down on his hands and knees as he came close to hyperventilating. “You're... You're really her.”

“I am,” she confirmed simply albeit a little hesitantly. “So... I don't mean to sound pushy or anything like that but-”

“Yeah, yeah. I won't clear up that image, I promise. And I'll make sure no one else does either.” When he finally calmed down, he raised his head and stared at her with a kind of stunned awe that made her just a little uncomfortable. “I have _ so _ many questions.”

“And I promise I'll answer them to the best of my abilities.” A soft chime indicating an incoming message drew Kara's attention away from him and she pulled her phone out of her pocket. When she read it, she paled and felt time grind to a halt. “But not... not today, okay? I... There's something I have to do after work.”

“Of course,” he nodded so vigorously it was as if he was trying to imitate a bobblehead. “Sure. Whenever you're free.”

“Thanks. Um, we should... We should get back to work now or we'll get in trouble.” With that, she shuffled him back towards the rooftop access door and downstairs as she sent a silent prayer of thanks to Rao that Winn hadn't noticed her agitated state.

The rest of the day passed by in a blur and it was with an even greater sense of dread than with Winn that she made her way home.

Home, where she found Eliza waiting outside her door just as the Danvers matriarch had said she would be in her message.

“Eliza,” Kara croaked feebly, unsure as to what she was supposed to say.

“Hello, Kara.” Eliza's face was unreadable as she gestured towards Kara's front door. “Can we talk inside?”

“Sure! Sorry, I just- um.” Fumbling for her keys, Kara took an embarrassingly long time to open the door. “C-Come in. Um. D-Do you... Do you want anything? Coffee?”

“Just water will do, thank you.” Eliza waited until they were both seated at the dining table before she started speaking. “I think you know why I'm here, Kara.”

“I'm sorry!” Kara blurted out in a panicked and miserable voice as she bowed her head. “I didn't mean to reveal myself to the world, I swear! But I saw the plane was on fire and I just- And then I found out _ Alex _ was on it-”

Eliza reached out to put a hand on Kara's wrist and gripped it firmly. “Kara, _ stop _. I'm not mad, I promise.”

Shock caused Kara to raise her head to stare at Eliza so quickly she thought she might have heard her neck crack. “W-What? Really? B-But... why not?”

A warm but somewhat sad smile formed on Eliza's face. “Do you remember the time you saved that woman and her baby from her burning car with Eve's help? I knew even back then that a day like this would come – a day where something unimaginably terrible would happen and you would feel compelled to stop it even if it cost you your secret. I didn't want that, of course, but...” She sighed and let go of Kara's wrist so that she could brush a stray lock of her adoptive daughter's hair out of her face. “That's the kind of person you are, Kara. And you saved Alex's life. How could I be mad at you for that?”

Tears welled up in Kara's eyes as she felt a great weight being lifted off her shoulders. “Thank you, Eliza. Thank you so much.”

“No, thank _ you_, sweetheart. But...” Another sigh escaped Eliza. “I won't lie and say I'm not worried sick about you. Especially considering...”

Eliza left her sentence hanging but Kara knew all too well what she had meant to say. The spectre that was the DEO had haunted the Danvers household for years but it was now more present than ever before. “It's okay, Eliza. I worked something out with them and they've agreed to let me... well, operate, for lack of a better word... here in National City as long as I don't cause too much damage in the process.” For a brief moment, Kara considered also mentioning who she would be working with but ultimately kept it to herself; that was Alex's secret to tell, not hers.

“And I know you would _ never _ do that because you're always so cautious about everything.” A twinkle of amusement lit up Eliza's eyes. “Well, everything that doesn't involve cooking, that is.”

Kara blushed at the light-hearted jab. “I'm never going to live that down, am I?”

“Not as long as a single trace of those scorch marks remain on my kitchen backsplash.” Then Eliza's teasing smile faded away. “I just want you to promise me you'll be careful, Kara. That's all I ask.”

“I promise,” Kara replied with conviction as she finally gave in to the urge to reach across and hug her adoptive mother.

Her future was an uncertain one, Alex was still mad at her and she was only beginning to piece together a comprehensive plan to achieve all her goals. In that moment, however, Kara allowed herself to believe that everything would turn out all right in the end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And a few more building blocks have been added to Kara's budding superhero life! Those of you who still remember canon events should have been able to recognise what was kept and what was changed as well as what events certain breadcrumbs will be leading to... although there will still definitely be some twists, of course. Either way, you're going to have to be patient like I said. XD
> 
> Season 1 Rant of the Chapter:  
In my opinion, one of the most unrealistic things to happen in Season 1 was Eliza waiting until Thanksgiving (which is at least a couple of months after Kara pulls her little plane-saving stunt) to visit and check up on Kara considering she knew the DEO tried to capture Kara once before (when she was still a child, even).


	3. Upset

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes life throws you curveballs. Sometimes it gets help from the people you love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so a few things before you read this chapter. I'm not watching the current season but everything I've been hearing about it has convinced me that I DEFINITELY made the right call there especially in regard to last week's episode. That said, I swear it's a total coincidence that this chapter touches on a particularly big issue that was also sort of explored in that episode. ...Well, I don't know if the writers forgot their own established canon (very likely) or they were just being that cruel to Kara (equally likely) but that's a moot point in the grand scheme of things.
> 
> Also (and I say this as someone who does not swear unless the situation has pissed me off THAT much) in no particular order, FUCK LENA LUTHOR, FUCK THE WRITERS AND FUCK THAT PSYCHOTIC FANDOM (you know which one).
> 
> That is all. Enjoy the chapter!

“I'll speak to your sister for you,” Eliza had told Kara as the two had embraced after a lengthy talk that had touched on topics both serious and light-hearted. (St'rki had deigned to grace them with his presence in the middle of it all, waking up from his nap to greet Eliza with a great deal of purring and an unsubtle demand for cuddles.) “You focus on making sure you stay safe, okay? And call me more often. I'd rather hear directly from you how you're doing than find out by checking the news.”

Although Kara had ultimately decided to keep Alex's affiliation with the DEO a secret from her adoptive mother after a great deal of internal debate, there had been no way to avoid discussing Alex entirely. Having prioritised getting to National City as fast as she could to check on Kara, Eliza had foregone calling both her daughters even if it was just to tell them that she would be visiting. As such, the Danvers matriarch had been in the dark as to how her older daughter had reacted to Kara's heroics just as Alex had no idea her mother was in town at the moment.

All too aware of the volatility of the situation, Kara had proceeded to carefully share that Alex had been far from happy about it. Eliza's only response then had been to close her eyes and sigh wearily but had followed it up much later with the aforementioned promise to talk to Alex on Kara's behalf.

With that matter settled as much as possible for now, Kara had bade Eliza goodbye and made sure her adoptive mother had hailed a cab before heading back up to her apartment. Once she had put in her usual order at her favourite Chinese take-out restaurant and freshened up while waiting for it to arrive, she settled in for a long night of dealing with some unfinished business.

Eve called while Kara was just about to start inspecting the contents of her almost forgotten backpack.

“Hey,” Kara answered the phone through a mouthful of egg roll as she juggled the device with one hand while the other pulled out the thankfully dry documents she had 'liberated' from Randall's sorry excuse of an office. (Apparently the salesman had not been lying about the backpack being 'so waterproof it could survive a trip to the bottom of the ocean'.) “How did the presentation go this morning?”

“Fine,” Eve replied with barely disguised impatience. The reason behind her demeanour became all too clear with the next words out of her mouth. “But enough about that. I believe we were discussing something more important last night before we had to end our chat.”

Kara took a moment to swallow her mouthful of egg roll, replace it with a piece of sweet and sour chicken and put the call on speaker before continuing the conversation. “Eve, you told me a week ago how important this presentation was to your chances of getting that promotion you wanted. Are you sure that's all you have to say about it now?”

“If I don't get it, there'll always be another chance further down the line,” Eve waved away Kara's concern dismissively. “Besides, it was a bit of a long shot in the first place; I'm the youngest person in my team, for one, and there are a lot of more senior people in my department who are more likely to get promoted first.”

“Still, you worked really hard and I think you deserve it.”

“That's sweet, Kara, and while I'm really grateful for it I think we both still need to be a little realistic here. If it happens, we'll celebrate. If not, I'll just keep working hard while I wait for the next opportunity to prove myself.”

“And I'll be there for you regardless.”

“I know you will. Now.” There was a brief, meaningful pause. “How did you sleep?” Which was basically code for, 'How did Mon-El take the news that you've done something to make him worry like crazy again?'

Kara sighed as she finished the last egg roll and rearranged the first batch of documents she needed to pass to the police in the right order. “Rough at the start but it worked out in the end. Everything's fine.” She was most definitely _not_ going to share just how 'fine' the night had ended, of course.

“That's good to hear. So did you manage to work out a plan for... well, everything? Because everyone can't seem to stop talking about you and your act of heroism, for one.”

“Ugh, don't remind me please,” Kara groaned as she temporarily stopped what she was doing to bury her head in her hands. “Ms Grant called for a meeting this morning and all she could talk about was how she was going to put me on every single media channel she owns. Television, radio, newspaper, magazine... you name it. Oh, and get this – she's going to use me to save the Tribune from being downsized. So basically if I don't do this right, those people are going to lose their jobs. As if I didn't have enough on my plate already.”

“I've always wondered what it would be like to be friends with someone famous,” Eve mused idly.

Kara lifted her head to stare at her phone with a mixture of incredulity and mild annoyance. “_Really?_ _That's_ what you're going to focus on?”

“I'm just looking on the bright side of things. In my case, it's knowing a celebrity. In your case, it's _being_ that celebrity.”

“Yeah, well, I don't want it. Eve, _you know me_. I've never liked being in the spotlight. And now I'm so paranoid someone's going to recognise me and my whole life is going to fall apart even more than it already has. Oh, on that note... I should probably tell you that I had to tell Winn my secret today.”

There was a moment of stunned surprise before Eve responded. “How come?”

Another sigh escaped Kara as she started massaging her temples. “I told you he works in the IT department, right? Well, Ms Grant is making them analyse all the footage and photos of 'the mystery woman' in hopes of identifying her – that is, me – and he told me he could do it. It didn't feel like I had much of a choice; I had to tell him so that I could make him understand why I needed him to _not_ do it.”

“...And how did he react?”

“Shock, mostly.” Kara paused as a sliver of guilt pricked her conscience. “I... uh, kind of had to actively convince him I was telling the truth because he wouldn't believe me at first and may have traumatised him in the process.”

“That doesn't sound very heroic.”

“I was desperate, okay?! It was either lift him into the air or throw myself off the roof and fly back up! There weren't exactly a lot of options available on short notice!”

“Okay, okay. I believe you.” For some reason, Eve sounded a little patronising which annoyed Kara. “But he _can_ be trusted to keep your secret, right? I mean, that's the most important thing after not exposing your true identity to the world for the sake of his job.”

“Yeah. Winn's not that kind of guy,” Kara replied with complete conviction. “I trust him.”

“Then I guess we can consider that problem solved before it even began. But what about all the news coverage itself? Are you going to release some kind of statement? Oh, I suppose you could use your position at CatCo to your advantage by passing it to your boss and claiming it came from an anonymous source? Or are you going to wait until you have... what do you call it? Your uniform? How did your cousin do it? I don't remember the details since it's been so long but he went to the Daily Planet, didn't he?”

Part of Kara's brain stalled as it tried to figure out how to answer that without revealing the truth behind Kal-El's connection to Metropolis' top newspaper. “Yes, well. Um. I just... don't know if I can take that chance with Ms Grant? I mean, she's like a shark but with anything newsworthy; worst case scenario is she manages to figure it all out in less than five seconds if I try to use such a direct method and it'll all be over just like that.”

“I suppose it _is_ a bit of a risk,” Eve conceded. “Do you actually have any ideas yet or...?”

“Not really... but I think it would be for the best if I just wait until things have settled down a little first and everyone's a little less obsessed with discovering my identity,” Kara replied with a weary sigh. “Which I hope will happen sooner rather than later because this paranoia is _really_ starting to get to me.”

“I can only imagine.”

“Besides, there's no real rush to do anything on that front. Unless some other equally major incident happens in the next couple of days, I don't think I have to... you know.” Kara thought of Alex, the DEO, Vartox's last words and her almost suicidal plan to advance her efforts to rescue Mon-El as she looked down at the documents in front of her. “In the meantime, I've got other more immediate concerns to address.”

“A whole ton, I bet. Hey, how do you feel about having lunch together tomorrow at Mac's? My treat. I'll even drive over to your office and pick you up. You could use the break, I think.”

The corners of Kara's lips twitched. “Are you sure you're not just looking for an excuse to go back there and have more of their salted caramel cheesecake?”

“It's what they call a win-win situation. So? What do you say?”

“You know I can't say no to good food...”

“Is that a 'yes'?”

“That's a 'yes'.”

“Great! We'll save the rest of this conversation for tomorrow's lunch then since it's getting late.”

With that, both of them wished each other goodnight and Kara finished both her dinner and her task of sorting through the spoils of her raid of Randall's office. It was only after she slipped the documents into the large envelope she had prepared for this very purpose that she realised this might be the last time she would ever do something like this. If Kal-El, Bruce and even Selina were any indication, she would have no more time for her midnight trips once she embraced the superhero life. That meant that while she would be able to help people out in the open now, she would no longer be able to go after those in National City who conducted their criminal activities in the shadows. They would continue to get away with their evil deeds and there would be no way for her to bring them to justice even if she found out about them.

Kal-El had his job as a journalist that he could use to find and expose any such individuals in Metropolis.

Bruce and Selina had their connection to Commissioner Gordon.

She, on the other hand... She was just an overworked assistant to a woman who at times seemed more concerned about unfounded gossip than actual news.

The realisation triggered a riot of emotions within her, and it was with a troubled heart that she went to sleep.

* * *

It naturally took Mon-El one look at Kara's face when she showed up in the dream world to know she was upset. “Hey. What's wrong?” Then his thoughts jumped straight to the worst case scenario and he began scanning her for any physical injuries. (The fact that she was wearing pyjamas did not compute in his panicked state.) “Did something happen?”

“No, no, it's not that, I promise,” she quickly reassured him although the faint smile she put on to convince him faded away just as fast as it had appeared. “It's just... been a long day.”

His body immediately relaxed at that as his expression turned into one of sympathy and understanding. “Come here.”

She needed no more invitation than that and all but collapsed onto his lap and into his waiting embrace. (In hindsight, it was a good thing he had been trying to clear his head on one of the window seats in Bal-Seg's favourite reading room.) All at once, he wrapped his arms around her body and initiated their connection, his thoughts mimicking his physical actions as they wound gently around the slightly dimmer than usual golden light. “Thank you,” she mumbled into his chest as she tucked her head under his chin and loosely returned his hug.

“Any time.” He rubbed soothing circles into her back and was rewarded with a muffled sigh and a pulse of gratitude from the golden light. “We'll talk about it when you're ready.”

She shook her head and twisted in his embrace so that her back was pressed against his chest and she could look upwards to give him another faint smile as the golden light emitted a wave of gratitude. “I'm okay now.” Then her smile once again disappeared and her gaze settled unseeingly on the horizon beyond the window. “No one recognised me as the one who saved that plane. Not yet, at least.”

Sensing that teasing her about her poor idea of a disguise actually working would be the wrong move, he decided to use a different approach. “That's good. Hopefully it stays that way.”

She hummed non-committally but her mood did not improve. “Everyone out there is still talking about the incident, though. About me. Wondering who I am and whether I'm going to show up again. Ms Grant pretty much announced that she's going to use me to give her business a huge boost which means non-stop focus on me and everything I do with my powers from now on and I know that I'm going to have to address it eventually especially if I want to do what Kal-El and Bruce do but I just...”

“...don't know how to deal with all the attention,” he finished for her but did not at all feel proud for having successfully followed her train of thought when she nodded glumly. Throughout her time on Earth, Kara had done everything she could to minimise the risks of her secret being revealed primarily by keeping to herself as much as possible and avoiding anything that might put her in the spotlight. It was a tactic that suited her on a personal level, being someone who had been used to having only a few close individuals in her life since the day she was born. The same could not be said for him, however; as the crown prince, being watched and scrutinised by nearly everyone on Daxam for some reason or other whether up close or from a distance was something that he had become numb to before he had even turned three. “I can help, if you want,” he offered softly. “I mean, I don't want to sound like I'm bragging or that it's anything worth bragging about but I have some experience with that.”

That got her to look at him again and her mood to brighten a little. “Thank you. I appreciate it.” She pushed herself up just enough to press a kiss to his jaw before settling back into her original position. “But later. Right now I just want to stay like this for a while.”

Mon-El obliged her by adjusting his embrace so that she was as comfortable as could be. “Whatever you want.”

As if she had been attempting to be dramatic (which she vehemently denied later), she let the tranquil silence blanketing them go on for quite some time before she dropped the next bit of shocking news on him. “I told Winn, by the way.”

His mind went blank as he tried to process her latest revelation. “...Okay...?”

“I had to tell him. The humans had pictures and recordings of me during and after I saved that plane and while the level of technology used to capture them made it hard for them to be used to identify me, Winn told me that he could do it,” she clarified. “He didn't believe me at first but once I convinced him I was telling the truth, he agreed to stop and keep my secret.”

He heaved a relieved sigh that mussed up her hair just a little. “That's good.” Then he paused as a thought occurred to him. “Are you worried that you're putting him in danger because of this?”

“No,” she replied immediately only for the golden light to emit a wave of unease the moment the word left her lips. “At least, I hope there's nothing to be worried about.”

“It should be fine. After all, Eve has known for years and it's never made her a target even when we knew people – both the DEO and the Fort Rozz escapees – were after you.”

“That was before last night. Now the whole world knows I exist and... I guess this is how Kal-El feels about Lois – always wondering if a day will come where someone figures out the truth behind their relationship and uses that against him.”

“But it's been years since he told her and nothing like that has happened yet, right? If that idiot cousin of yours can do it, I'm confident it'll be as easy as breathing for you.”

The golden light radiated annoyance as she tilted her head upwards to glare at him. “You really can't pass up a single opportunity to insult him, can you?”

He gave her an unrepentant grin and shrugged. “This is me we're talking about, after all.”

She sat upright with a growl, momentarily severing their connection in the process, and pinched him rather painfully for that.

“_Ow!_ Okay, okay, I yield.”

“Good.”

“...For now.”

“...Considering it's you, that's probably the best I can ask for.”

“You know me so well.”

Under-the-breath muttering was her only response as she turned away from him, crossed her arms over her chest and scowled at the view outside the window.

Mon-El let her be like that for a while before he carefully asked his next question. “Were those the only things troubling you today?”

Just like that, her shoulders slumped and she let out a heavy sigh. “...No. Eliza showed up at my apartment. Apparently the reason she didn't pick up when I called her was because she was already in her car and on her way to check on me herself.”

“Oh.” He tried for a moment to guess how that conversation had gone before he gave up and decided to just ask. “Was she angry?”

Surprisingly, she shook her head. “Just worried.” A ghost of a smile played on her lips. “She said she's been expecting a day like this to come for years so in a way she had already prepared herself for it. All she wants is for me to be careful.”

He sighed in relief, knowing that the uncertainty of how Eliza would react to the entire situation had weighed on Kara's mind even after he had done his best to reassure her about it during her last visit. “That's good to hear.” Then a thought occurred to him and his relief abated. “Did you tell her about Alex?”

The speed at which her smile evaporated was answer enough. “...No. I... It's her secret. I didn't think it was my place.”

“I think you did the right thing,” he tried to reassure her, having sensed that the decision did not sit well with her. It made sense when he thought about it; knowing that Eliza would most definitely not approve of Alex's career choice, Kara was most likely feeling some measure of guilt about her part in keeping it secret. Then there was the matter of how Eliza would react when she finally found out... and he had no doubt that the truth would eventually come out. Such was life, after all. “You should probably put it out of your mind since there's nothing else you can do about it for now.”

She didn't respond and neither did she look convinced, but no protest was forthcoming when he silently coaxed her to lie back down against him and reinitiated their connection.

An uneasy kind of silence descended upon them and lingered despite his best efforts, but surprisingly it was she who spoke first.

“I finished going through the documents I took from Randall's office tonight,” she murmured apropos of nothing.

Considering how many other more pressing matters had happened in the span of... one day? Two? ...he thought he could be forgiven for needing a moment to remember who in the world she was talking about. “Oh. So you're going to wake up a little earlier tomorrow morning to drop it off anonymously at the police station like usual?”

The golden light in his head somehow managed to become even more dim than before. “Yeah.”

“...You're usually a lot happier when you get to this part,” he noted carefully.

A despondent sigh slipped out of her as she shifted in his arms in what he could only assume was a feeble attempt to make herself more comfortable which he didn't think was actually possible. “I know. It's just... I realised that this will be the last time I do something like this.”

“You're going to stop your midnight trips?” he asked, unable to keep the surprise out of his voice.

This time, there was a discernible hint of frustration in her exhale and the golden light. “I won't be able to even if I wanted to. And I _do_. But I remember my time with Bruce and Selina in Gotham. I know what their life is like first-hand. They spend every night patrolling and... that's going to be my life from now on. There won't be any time to chase down people like Randall and Edge moving forward.” Her hands gripped his arms where they rested around her frame with almost bruising strength. “Those criminals will continue to hurt innocents. They might never pay for their crimes... and their victims might never get the justice they deserve.”

“I think you're being a little too pessimistic,” he tried to gently guide her out of the miasma of dark thoughts that her mind had become. “First of all, literally no one is telling you that you can't just divide your time between your midnight trips and... superhero duty, was it? Anyway, the way I see it, you're helping people regardless so it shouldn't matter how you choose to do it. Secondly, I think being able to use your powers more openly will actually be able to help you stop more criminals of Edge's variety or at least make it easier for you to do it. Think about it: Instead of having to sneak around to deliver the evidence you collect, you can just hand it over to the authorities directly or expose them outright for everyone to see.”

As he had been speaking, she had twisted around so that she could look up at him again, her brilliant blue eyes shining with a fragile hope that also emanated from the golden light in his head. “Do you really think that'll work?”

“You'll find a way to make it work. I'm sure of it,” he told her, his voice full of conviction. “You're smart, resourceful and determined to the point of being annoyingly stubborn. If anyone can find a way to balance it all and achieve everything you want to achieve, it would be you. I have faith in you. Now I need you to have faith in yourself.”

Her expression became a strange mixture of gratitude and annoyance. “While I appreciate everything you said, that comment about me being stubborn was totally unnecessary.”

“Would you have preferred I point out that you would've probably figured it out yourself if you weren't so fond of overthinking things?” he teased her, secretly relieved that he had managed to prevent her from spiralling.

She started sulking, much to his increasing amusement. “I'd rather you didn't do either of those things.”

“It wouldn't be like me to pass up such a beautiful opportunity to tease you though,” he replied with a combination of false innocence and complete sincerity.

Impossibly, the sulking intensified. “That doesn't mean you _have_ to.”

“Fine,” he chuckled as he leaned down and dropped a kiss on her nose which caused her to scrunch up her face in a very adorable manner. “I'm sorry and I'll stop. Happy?”

The golden light bristled as she glared at him through slightly flushed cheeks. However, she seemed to ultimately decide it wasn't worth the effort as her only response was to close her eyes, let out an irritated huff and turn away from him. Unintelligible grumbling followed, but when she stayed cocooned in his embrace he decided to take that as a sign he'd been forgiven.

Mon-El would have been content for the moment of peace to continue if not for the somewhat random realisation that intruded his mind out of the blue. “Not to be the one to ruin the mood but I think we should talk about your plan to deal with your... well, public image problem, I guess.”

A gusty and somewhat forlorn sigh escaped Kara as the golden light's aura of contentment dimmed a little. “...I know.”

“Do you have a plan in mind already?”

“Just to let things calm down a bit before I take any formal action but nothing else beyond that.”

He hummed his approval. “That sounds sensible. Under normal circumstances – well, based on my lessons long ago anyway –, I would've recommended quick and decisive action before you lost the chance to take control of the narrative. However, this is very new ground for you so waiting silently while you try to anticipate how things will develop and figure out exactly how you want to handle this would be the recommended course of action.”

She shifted to look up at him again with wide eyes. “So... It's really fine to not do anything for now?”

“Yes.” Smiling, he bent his head to kiss her forehead. “It's fine.”

This time, her blush was matched perfectly by a blinding smile and an equally blinding glow from the golden light. “Then... Can we not do anything now too and just stay like this for the rest of this visit?”

“Of course.” He tightened his arms around her and she responded by burrowing into his embrace. “Whatever you want.”

* * *

For one fleeting moment after she woke up the next morning, Kara allowed herself to foolishly believe that the day would be an improvement over the one before it.

She was, as usual, proven wrong all too quickly.

Working in a media company had taught her first-hand that it would take more than a day for the news channels to stop being so obsessed with 'the mystery woman who saved Flight 237'. As such, a part of her had expected and even prepared herself for the newscasters to continue discussing it for at least a couple more days – days where she would have to continue being very careful not to give anyone a reason to suspect she was the aforementioned mystery woman. However, she had faith that this mania would slowly and eventually taper off until she put herself back in the spotlight.

What she had not seen coming was the news channels' collective decision to invite every single individual they even remotely thought had something worth saying about the situation onto their shows whether it was in person or over the phone. Politicians, representatives from the police and fire departments, local businessmen, the average National City citizen...

Out of everyone they could have chosen, one of the channels had elected to ask Maxwell Lord for his opinion.

“Forget about the lack of experience this 'mystery woman' showed that night,” he told his hosts with a condescending expression on his stupid punchable face. “I'm talking about the trouble she'll bring to National City. Look at Metropolis; ever since Superman showed up there, a veritable war between people of mass destruction has been waged in that city on an almost daily basis. Their maintenance budgets have quadrupled among other things. In short, what I'm saying is National City does _not_ need Metropolis' problems.”

Stuck in a long queue at the only coffee shop her boss deigned to drink from in the entire city as she waited to pick up Ms Grant's standard breakfast order, Kara could only grind her teeth as she glared daggers at the television broadcasting Lord's interview. Her early morning detour to drop off the evidence the police would need to arrest Randall and put an end to his scamming ways had taken a little longer than usual – why of all things had Detective Smith chosen today of all days to come in an hour earlier? – and as a result she now had to deal with a considerably large morning crowd.

Of course, it was when she had finally secured her prize and exited the coffee shop that she received a call from none other than Ms Grant. Who proceeded to berate Kara for her lateness... and tell her that since she was already late and in the city, she might as well try to redeem herself by picking up her dry cleaning and delivering it to her house.

Which Kara had to do... while fighting morning traffic.

That had been worsened by a three-car pileup on Shearwater Avenue.

And then there had been a mix-up at the dry cleaner.

All of which culminated in Kara only making her way through CatCo's front doors less than half an hour short of her lunchtime with an ice-cold breakfast in her hands, a _very_ empty stomach and an acute awareness that she was going to get chewed out the second Ms Grant laid eyes on her.

Needless to say, she was understandably not in the best of moods even before she entered the lift.

Little did she know that the universe was far from done with her.

As if she was an apex predator that had smelled blood in the air, Ms Grant turned away from the man in her office to give Kara That Look the moment Kara came within view. “Why do you even still have _that_?” she asked as she eyed the breakfast Kara was still clutching with unparalleled disdain. “Do you expect me to eat it? And I certainly hope you weren't displaying this same level of dull-witted incompetence when you were picking up my dry cleaning because those clothes are worth more than your entire life's salaries combined.”

“Sorry, Ms Grant, I'll get rid of it.” Kara did her best to sound contrite and not let her irritation show as she kept her head down. “And I handed your dry cleaning over to your maid without any issues.”

“At least you got _one_ thing right so far today.” The condescension in Ms Grant's voice was so palpable it was a wonder it hadn't physically manifested as some kind of acidic ooze. “Thanks to your extreme tardiness, I had to give our new Art Director the tour of our office myself.”

New Art Director? The vague memory of Ms Grant having mentioned something to that effect yesterday surfaced, and Kara could not help feeling curious as she lifted her head to look at the man whose presence she had all but ignored.

The moment she laid eyes on his face and recognised him, that curiosity turned in the span of a heartbeat into shock before just as quickly transforming into white-hot rage.

“Allow me to introduce myself,” he said with a smile she was certain was supposed to charm her. “My name is-”

“_I know who you are_,” Kara snarled, uncaring of the fact that Ms Grant was watching, and a dark part of her revelled in the way her venomous words wiped that infuriating smile off his face. “_What are you doing here?_”

Ms Grant narrowed her eyes. “I see introductions on one side would be a waste of time and energy but an explanation for this inexcusable behaviour is in order, Keira.”

If Kara hadn't been as livid as she was now, she would've taken that as her cue to get herself under control and start apologising profusely. “I'm sorry, Ms Grant, but I need to go make a phone call.”

With that, she turned on her heels, stormed away and unceremoniously threw the food in her hands into the first dustbin she passed. Even the faint sound of Winn calling her name did not slow her departure from Ms Grant's office in search of a more secluded place. All of her attention was focused on not destroying anything as she pulled out her phone and tapped a name on her contacts list with almost enough force to crack the screen.

“Hel-”

“_You sent your best friend HERE?!_” she hissed. “_To my WORKPLACE?! To BABYSIT me?!_”

“I didn't _send_ him-” Kal-El began to protest.

“So you expect me to believe it's a coincidence that James Olsen of all people decided to take up the position as Art Director of CatCo out of the blue?” she cut him off again just as she finally made her way to one of the small balconies on her floor which was thankfully devoid of people. “Just _two- no, one day_ after I appeared on the news?”

“Jimmy was already looking for an opportunity to expand his horizons outside of the Daily Planet, I swear. And I overheard Perry mention that there was an opening at CatCo; I didn't go looking for that information myself.”

“So are you saying all you did was pass it along? With no ulterior motives? No asking of any related favours?”

The ensuing silence was answer enough.

Her anger roiled inside her, traces of the hurt beneath seeping to the surface. “You _promised_. You agreed to trust me and let me take care of myself.”

“Kara, you're so new at this,” he tried to reason with her. “I remember when I first started – how I struggled to deal with... _everything_. I remember thinking how much better it would be if I had someone to give me even just a little bit of guidance. That's what I want him to be for you.”

“And how exactly is he supposed to do that?” she spat. “He doesn't even have a superhero identity! What is he going to do, repeatedly throw himself off the roof so I can practise catching him?”

“Jimmy has picked up a lot over the years of being close friends with me. He knows things. Kara...” There was a note of contrition in his voice when he next spoke but it wasn't enough to temper her rage. “I care about you. I just want the best for you.”

_If you really cared about me, you'd be here yourself._

The words burned at the back of her throat, and throughout the short eternity they spent there she felt like she was reliving one of the worst days of her life. She was twelve again – alone and abandoned, unloved and unwanted by the only family she had left in the entire universe. Even if she had come to understand the rationale behind Kal-El's decision then and now, all the cold logic in the world could not erase the pain she had felt – a pain that still lingered deep down inside of her.

“Kara?”

She closed her eyes and swallowed the words. “You could've at least asked me first.” Despite her best efforts, some of the bitterness still slipped through. “But you didn't. You didn't even have the decency to _tell_ me what you were doing.”

“I'm sorry, I-”

“_Don't._” Her voice was so harsh she barely recognised it. “Don't finish that sentence. I don't want his help and I don't want yours either. I don't want anything from either of you.” Stunned silence followed, and she used the tense lull in their conversation – if one could even call it a conversation – to suck in a raspy lungful of air and wipe a stray tear away. “Goodbye, Clark.”

“Kara, wait-”

There was no satisfaction to be felt when she ended the call – only a dull hollow sensation growing inside her chest. It only worsened when her phone lit up again mere seconds later with an incoming call from Kal-El that she hung up on without hesitation.

Then the second last person she wanted to see at that moment opened the door separating the office from the balcony.

“Hi.” James was wearing that infuriating smile once again. “I think we got off on the wrong foot back there. Oh, and don't worry about Ms Grant; I talked to her so you don't have to worry about losing your job.”

Wounds still raw from her conversation with her cousin, she had to fight not to do something she would sorely regret later like throw her phone at James' face. “I could've handled Ms Grant on my own.”

One of his eyebrows arched as he eyed her curiously. “Oh yeah? What exactly was your plan? To get yelled at and fired for blowing up at me in front of her and then storming out of her office? Because I don't think you would've liked that outcome.”

Even if he was right, the last thing she wanted to do was concede anything to him, much less thank him for fixing a situation he had helped create himself. “I don't want to talk to you right now,” she told him coldly as she sidestepped him and headed back inside. Fresh air and some distance between them – that was what she needed right now.

Unfortunately for her, he followed right behind her to the lift. Only the presence of others around them kept him quiet, and for that she could not be more grateful.

“Hey Kara!”

Winn jogged up to her just as the lift doors opened and followed her in as did James, a concerned expression on his face. “What happened today? You've never been late and you seemed really – and I mean _really_ – pissed when you walked out of Ms Grant's office which kind of isn't like you-” That was when he noticed the way James was looking between him and Kara. “Uh... hey? Not to be rude but I don't think I've ever seen you around the office before.”

“James. James Olsen, the new Art Director,” James introduced himself with a friendly smile. “Are you a friend of Kara's?”

It was obvious the moment Winn recognised James because his eyes widened and he looked like he was about to pass out. “_The_ James Olsen?” he gawked openly, causing the others in the lift to glance at him with a mixture of curiosity and annoyance. “Friend of Superman James Olsen?”

James' smile faltered for a split second. A small part of Kara spared the observation a speck of curiosity. “Yes, that's me. And you are...?”

“Winn!” There was an almost excessive amount of enthusiasm in the handshake he initiated. “I, uh, work in the IT department. Sorry, I must've been busy or something when you got the grand tour because I would've _totally_\- I mean. Uh. Anyway. Anything you need – well, anything connected to computers anyway – just ask.”

“I'll be sure to do that.”

The lift doors finally opened on the ground floor and Kara took the opportunity to escape, using the distraction Winn had unwittingly created in the hopes of ditching James. She would make it up to Winn later but right now, she desperately needed to be alone.

Once again, however, heavy footfalls behind her alerted her to her failure in achieving her goal, and she decided to use the back exit into the alleyway behind CatCo instead of the main entrance. At least there would be no one there – hopefully – to overhear her if she started screaming at James about things that were supposed to be kept secret.

“Kara!” The bang of her hand making forcible contact with the door reverberated throughout the alleyway as she finally exited the building and walked in the opposite direction of the main road. “We should talk about this.”

Beyond aggravated by this point, she spun on her heels and glared heatedly at James who stopped in his tracks. A short distance behind him, Winn who had followed them stood still as well, having finally picked up on the tense atmosphere between them. “I said I don't want to talk to you, James, and that most definitely includes '_this_'-” she waved her hands angrily in the air, “-as well.”

“...Is everything okay?” Winn asked as he eyed the two of them with a critical eye.

“Yes,” James and Kara chorused with vastly different tones.

Naturally, Winn was not convinced and he began looking at James quite differently. “Hey, whatever is going on here, I think you should just let it go. It's pretty obvious Kara wants nothing to do with you.”

At that, James turned to face Winn with a frustrated expression in place of his earlier smile. “No offence, Winn, but this isn't something that involves you so I don't think you should be offering any advice on the matter.”

“Yeah, well,” Winn sputtered a little as he crossed his arms in front of his chest and tried to make himself look intimidating. (Considering James was taller and bigger than him, it didn't quite work.) “Kara's my best friend so I think that's enough reason for me to consider myself involved.”

“I can take care of myself, Winn.” Grife, why couldn't _anyone_ just trust her to handle _anything_ on her own? Was there some kind of disease going around she didn't know about?

To her ever increasing frustration, both guys seemed to ignore her as they tried to stare each other down. “This is a private conversation and there are things you don't know that Kara and I need to discuss,” James said tersely.

“As I said, there's nothing for us to discuss,” Kara ground out only to be ignored again.

“I highly doubt that. And since we're on the subject, I have important stuff to talk to Kara about too so maybe _you're_ the one who should leave us alone.”

“It can't be anything more important than what I have to say to her.”

“And how would _you_ know that?”

“_Oh for god's sake!_” she exploded, unable to take this stupid and frankly weird competition between the two guys in front of her who actually jumped in the air at her outburst. “_You both know, okay?!_”

For a moment, both of them stared at her in shock as they struggled to process this new revelation. “_HE knows?!_” they chorused as they pointed at each other once they regained their ability to speak. “You told _him_?!”

“James already knew before he arrived here,” she explained through gritted teeth as she glared at the offending party. “And Winn's my friend.”

“There you are!”

The sound of a familiar voice cut short the conversation and drew everyone's attention away from each other and towards the side of the alleyway that connected to the main road. There, Kara found none other than Eve standing with her hands on her hips and a rather worried expression on her face. “Eve? What are you doing here?”

One of Eve's eyebrows arched. “You actually forgot about our lunch date?”

Lunch? Confused, Kara checked her watch only to realise with a fair amount of surprise just how much time had passed since she had walked out of Ms Grant's office. “Oh god. I'm so sorry, I've been-”

“Busy?” Eve guessed as she eyed the two men with Kara who were similarly eyeing her with open wariness. “I can see that.”

“And who might you be?” James dared to ask.

“My best friend Eve,” Kara answered for her. “Eve, this is James Olsen and Winn,” she introduced as she gestured at both men in turn.

“Nice to meet you.” Eve turned her attention back towards Kara. “Should I ask why you're skulking around back here with them when you were supposed to meet me in front of your office or am I better off not knowing?”

Kara sighed and dragged a hand down her face, wishing with all her heart that the day would just end already. “James knows. Now they both know the other knows. And I guess so do you.”

“Ah.” Eve frowned. “You know it's not really a secret when _everyone_ knows, right?”

“It's not like I _wanted_ this, okay?” Kara complained, a sliver of her anger at the whole situation slipping into her voice.

“Wait a minute...” Winn stared and pointed a finger at Eve as did James. “_She_ knows too?!” they said in unison.

“Oh please,” Eve rebuked them crossly. “We've been best friends since high school. I know more of her secrets than the two of you combined.”

Any further discussion on the matter was temporarily put on hold for better or worse by the happy chirp of Kara's phone announcing an incoming message. When she checked it, she couldn't decide how she should feel about this timely interruption.

'Meet me outside your office. There's somewhere we need to go,' the message from Alex read.

“Sorry, Eve, I'm going to have to cancel on you again,” Kara apologised with genuine regret. “Alex wants me to go somewhere with her right now. Rain check on that lunch?”

“No worries.” Eve shot her a reassuring smile. “We can vent later over the phone. Especially about what my boss said on the news this morning.”

“Please don't remind me,” Kara groaned as she gave Eve a grateful hug. “I'll call you in the evening. Go ahead and enjoy that lunch without me.” Then she released her best friend and walked back inside the building without sparing the two guys present who apparently were still too stunned to say anything a second glance. She had enough on her plate as it was; whatever the issue those two had with each other was their problem, not hers. Firing off a quick text to Ms Grant saying she wasn't feeling well and would be taking the rest of the day off, she put her phone away and went to meet her adoptive sister.

Just as her message had said, Alex was waiting next to her parked car with a stony look on her face. “Get in,” she said gruffly the moment she noticed Kara.

“Nice to see you too,” Kara snarked but did as she had been told. “Where are we going?”

“The DEO,” Alex replied, her expression unchanged and her gaze trained on the road. “I think it's time you see with your own eyes what you've gotten yourself into.”

An uneasy feeling began settling in the pit of Kara's stomach at those words but she did her best to squash it. However, it kept growing as the city faded away to be replaced by empty desert as far as the eye could see. On and on they kept driving until they reached an unmanned security gate out in the middle of nowhere. Alex only stopped long enough to swipe her pass through the sensor and key in a code, causing the gate to slide open, before they were off again.

Small hills came into view on the horizon, and the sight of a man-made irregularity in the terrain caused her feelings of dread to slowly turn into fear.

Stepping out of the car when it stopped in front of said irregularity which she could now confirm to be a large imposing metal gate did nothing to change that.

A cave.

The DEO's base was in a cave.

“Come on.”

Kara could barely hear Alex over the sound of her thundering heartbeat. A cave. A whole maze-like network of underground caverns. Small, dark, cramped spaces with no room for escape, full of people who could very likely incapacitate or kill her effortlessly without breaking a sweat and without a second thought. Not even Alex would be able to stop them and no one would know until it was too late.

The mere thought of taking even one step closer to that entrance made her start trembling like a leaf.

She was keenly reminded of the one and only time she had attempted to beat Mon-El's recreation of the infamous Void Maze on the planet Lesrian in the dream world by herself – how terrified she had felt when she had realised she was lost and alone in that place.

How she felt now was exactly the same as that stretch of eternity.

But this was not the dream world. Mon-El was not here with her. If – or rather when – she gave in to her fear, he would not come to her rescue no matter how loud and long she screamed for him.

“Kara?”

There was a strong gust of wind, and the next thing Kara was aware of was how much her hands were shaking as they struggled to unlock her front door.

How had she gotten here? Had she flown? Had she been careful? Could anyone have seen her?

The questions being asked by the small part of her brain that was still capable of worrying about such matters were drowned out by all-consuming panic.

Just when she was close to bashing her front door down in her blind desperation to get inside did the key finally slide into the lock. A loud ragged noise of relief escaped her as she burst inside – how long she had been hyperventilating she could not tell – and the last scrap of rational thought she had left was used to shut the door behind her.

She wasn't even aware of where she was in her apartment when the darkness claimed her.

* * *

It seemed to Mon-El like the gods were feeling particularly malicious when Kara appeared without warning and all but fell into him just when he had managed to fully convince himself that she was doing fine out there in the real world.

That thought was very quickly chased out of his mind when he realised she was shaking violently, hyperventilating and clutching his shirt so tightly her knuckles had turned white.

Instinct took over and he wrapped one arm securely around her waist both to give her the comfort of his embrace he knew she needed right now and to prevent her from just falling into a boneless heap at his feet. At the same time, his other hand came up to remove her hairband and begin stroking the back of her head. It was only because he had mentally braced himself for it that the waves of unbridled terror inundating his mind the moment he initiated their connection didn't overwhelm him entirely. “Shh,” he murmured into her ear as he carefully wove his thoughts around the shuddering golden light. “It's okay. I'm here. You're safe.”

He kept repeating the words over and over again as his hand maintained its soothing rhythm. Never once did he so much as slow down – not even after the tremors rippling through her frame subsided, her breathing gradually returned to normal and the golden light stopped fraying for lack of a better word.

Even so, it was a good while before she did anything more than just lie limp in his arms and let him support her weight completely. Her hands which had loosened their death grip on his shirt uncurled fully so that her palms were pressed against his chest, and she drew a ragged breath that rattled in her lungs. “Thank you,” she rasped, voice hoarse from the most recent abuse it had suffered and the emotions that had fuelled it.

“Don't mention it,” he murmured as he pressed a soft kiss to the side of her head. “Do you want to sit down?”

She nodded faintly and curled her fingers around his shirt again but kept her head tucked into the crook of his neck.

“Okay.” With utmost gentleness, he lowered the arm not wrapped around her waist so that he could scoop her up. Around them, the walls of the recreation room in the east wing of Daxam's royal palace melted away to be replaced with her room on Krypton, and he took care to lower them onto the bed without jostling her too much. He needn't have worried; she clung to him like they had been glued together and barely waited for him to rest his back against the headboard before she made herself comfortable on his lap and curled even more into his embrace.

Once again, he waited until he was absolutely sure she was as calm as possible before he dared to speak again. “What happened?”

A shudder ran through her body, and his hand automatically came to rest on the back of her head again. “Caves.”

That... was unenlightening. “...Caves?”

The next words out of her mouth, while muffled due to her face still being pressed into his body, clarified things and made his blood run cold all at once. “The DEO. Their base is in a network of caves in the desert on the edge of National City.”

His arms tightened their hold around her involuntarily. “They didn't-”

She shook her head – a small mercy – and let out another shaky breath. “No. Alex took me there by car. I...” she faltered as the golden light began to radiate shame of all things. “The moment I realised where she was asking me to go, I started... I don't even know how exactly I got back to my apartment.”

“There's no need for you to go there,” he told her gently but firmly. “You can work with them without having to ever set foot inside their base.”

This time, he was not relieved when she shook her head. “I have to eventually. I can't... I can't run away forever.”

The truth in her statement stoked the flames of anger inside him that was directed at his inability to help her when she needed him the most but he smothered them before they could reach her mind. She didn't need his rage right now; what she needed was his comfort and support. “You can do it,” he said instead. “You're the strongest person I know, after all.”

Kara made a noise that he supposed was meant to be either in the affirmative or a gesture of gratitude but did nothing else.

At a loss for what to say much less do, Mon-El made the mistake of falling back on old habits and tried for a joke. “I have to say though: This is a step up from the past... two days? I mean, I'd consider it an improvement that you're down to only one breakdown-inducing incident a day now.”

He realised his error when she stiffened in his arms and the golden light seemed to shrink into itself before the last word had even left his lips. Immediately, he cursed himself and made a mental note to bash his head against a rock as penance later.

“Sorry,” he apologised quickly as he reached out to the skittish golden light with thoughts full of contrition and the intent to comfort. “I shouldn't have-”

She cut him off with a silent shake of her head but continued to keep her face hidden from him. “No, it's... It's fine. You couldn't have known.”

“Well, I'm still sorry.” He took a deep breath and prepared himself to hear more heartbreaking revelations. “What else happened today?”

“I told you about Kal-El's friend James Olsen before, right?” she asked seemingly apropos of nothing.

A sense of foreboding overcame him. “...Yes?”

“He's here.” Something that sounded uncharacteristically like a bitter laugh reached his ears as the golden light began bristling. “Kal-El sent him to National City – to _my workplace_, even – to 'watch over me' and give me the 'guidance' he thinks I need. _Without telling me in advance or even asking if I wanted this._”

Mon-El felt his brain shut down as it tried and failed to process what Kara had just told him. Apparently her idiot cousin was a lot stupider than he had thought.

“I think I hate him.”

The barely audible confession snapped him out of his daze. “You don't mean that,” he replied automatically. As much as he loved to seize every opportunity presented to him to point out that Kal-El was an imbecile of the highest order, he did not actually want Kara to ever harbour any negative feelings or thoughts for her beloved cousin. “That's just your anger talking; you'll change your mind once you've calmed down. Besides, I don't think you're actually capable of hating anyone.”

“S'not true,” came the mumbled but speedy rejoinder. “I _definitely_ hate your parents.”

Once again, he found himself at a loss for words – how was he supposed to respond to _that_? –, and neither of them said anything for quite a while as a result afterwards.

It was when he was desperately trying to find something else to talk about that his mind hit on the topic they had been discussing prior to this and came up with an unorthodox idea.

“Hey...”

“...Yes?”

“About your... problem... with the DEO's base... I think I might have a solution.”

That finally and regretfully dislodged her from her comfortable position against him as she sat upright so that she could look him in the eye with a mixture of disbelief and hope. “W-What?”

“I don't know if it'll work the way I think it should,” he was quick to caution her, “but it's worth a try.”

At last, those blue eyes burned with a familiar fire that had been missing for far too long. “I'll take it.”

“All right.” He closed his eyes and drew a deep breath. “Do you remember how you managed to initiate our connection while you were awake? When you were being attacked with Kryptonite?”

Confusion was the only thing he could read from her expression and the golden light for a while as she struggled to figure out where he was going with this line of questioning. Being the smart girl that she was, she figured it out and realisation dawned on her face soon enough. “You don't mean...”

“Find a way to do it intentionally without the presence of a threat to your life to trigger it so that I can help you manage when you're there?” he finished for her. “Yes, that's exactly what I mean.”

“B-But...” Her mouth opened and closed wordlessly several times, and he could almost hear her mind working overtime. “Is it even possible?”

“We already know it's possible on some level. You just need to work on it – turn it in your favour.” He gave her a reassuring smile as he clasped her hands in his and squeezed them. “It's no different from your powers; all you need to do is learn to control it. And you managed to succeed with those so I don't see why you won't succeed again.”

The golden light shifted restlessly in his head as a variety of emotions flickered across her face and she chewed on her bottom lip. “...But...”

“...But...?”

Worry became the dominant emotion in her bright blue eyes. “You shared my pain when I did it both times in the past. And this isn't exactly life-threatening so... I... I don't want you to feel like I'm taking advantage of you.”

“You're always welcome to take advantage of me,” he countered with a wink and a roguish grin.

That did the trick; in an instant, her concern turned into annoyance and she gave him a baleful glare. “Mon-El, I'm being serious here.”

“As am I. On both counts.” He let his grin fade and got serious again. “Kara, it kills me that I can't even be there for you much less protect you when you need me the most. Let me do this for you. Let me take away some of your fear or whatever it is I can do for you while you're out there. _Please._ How this actually works doesn't matter to me; if it can help you, I want to do it.”

“I don't know...” she hedged, clearly torn. It was obvious that she found the idea very appealing but didn't want to burden him (in her eyes, at least).

A sigh threatened to escape him but he held it back; instead, he prepared to make a confession, knowing full well it would convince her to accept his suggestion. “If you must know, you'd be helping me a lot if you succeeded.” When she gave him a curious look, he drew a deep breath and forced himself to continue. “I... If I can... sense you in whatever way even while you're out there, I'll feel less...”

“...alone,” she finished for him as her gaze became one of understanding.

He nodded silently.

Just as he expected, that decided it for her and she squeezed his hands as the golden light glowed with affection. “...Okay.”

“Thank you.” He released one of her hands so that he could cup her head and gently pull her closer so that he could press a kiss to her brow.

When he pulled away, he found her looking at him with a mixture of lingering trepidation and cautious hope. “I should be the one thanking you. Besides, we won't even know if it'll work, right?”

It occurred to him then that perhaps part of her reluctance to even attempt this course of action came from a genuine fear that it would in fact fail. “There's only one way to find out... and unless there's something else that requires your immediate attention, I think we should start now.”

She stared somewhat disbelievingly. “Now?”

“Now.” This time, he chose to lean in so that he could drop another kiss on her forehead. “Go on. And if it doesn't work, we'll just find another way, okay?”

With obvious hesitation, she nodded and gave him one last apprehensive look before vanishing.

* * *

Kara awoke to a vision full of black, and it took her a few seconds to realise that it was because St'rki was right in front of her meowing in distress as he pawed her face. The next thing she realised was that she was lying on the floor of her apartment – the living area, to be precise – and her glasses were a couple of feet away from her. Either they'd fallen off and skidded away when she'd blacked out and crumpled to the floor or she had taken them off but dropped them before she could put them away properly.

Another gentle swipe from a black paw drew her attention back to the present and a cat that seemed a little annoyed that he was being ignored especially in this moment.

“I'm okay,” she whispered with a soft smile as she raised a hand to scratch him behind the ears. “Thank you for worrying about me.”

St'rki meowed lazily as he regarded her with half-closed eyes almost as if to say, “You can thank me by never worrying me like this ever again.”

A weak smile tugged at the corners of her lips. “I'll try not to, okay?”

Seemingly satisfied, he meowed one more time before turning to head towards her bedroom, no doubt to finish off the nap she had rudely interrupted.

She spared his swishing tail one more glance before she went to retrieve her glasses so that she could put them away properly, her attention focused on her most recent discussion with Mon-El. Initiating their connection while she was awake through sheer willpower... Could it really be done?

As Mon-El had said, there was only one way to find out.

Taking one calming breath after another, she sat down on her couch and made herself comfortable before methodically analysing the scant amount of data at her disposal. The past two times she had accomplished it albeit unknowingly, she had been in the most dire of straits and blindly desperate for the safety and comfort she associated with him. Perhaps if she focused solely on that...?

She closed her eyes and cleared her mind as best as she could while reciting the first few verses of her meditation chant. The world beyond her apartment faded away, the sounds of National City going about its day like normal turning into white noise. Ever so slowly, she felt herself begin to drift even as she kept herself just alert enough to not fall asleep outright.

Then, when the boundary between the real world and the dream world was hazy enough, she focused her mind on him.

In her head, he was standing right in front of her with that tender smile of his and his hand outstretched. Around him, a field of green as far as the eye could see swayed gently in a breeze that could barely be felt under a red sun that did not bathe everything under it in a crimson tint.

She imagined raising her hand to reach out and grasp his.

For far too long, there was nothing – not his touch, his warmth nor the blue-grey energy – but she refused to give up. _Not yet_, she told herself as she pushed down the frustration and despair threatening to bubble up inside her. _I'm not giving up yet._

So she kept trying.

All sense of time slipped away as she continued her efforts, her mind laser-focused on both maintaining that crystal-clear image of him and establishing a connection with him however tenuous.

And suddenly, just as she was about to consider the whole endeavour a lost cause, she felt it.

Him.

It was the faintest of hints – so faint that she was tempted to believe she had tricked herself out of sheer desperation into feeling something where there was nothing.

But she wanted to believe it was real, and so she focused on it with everything that she had. It didn't matter that holding on to a puff of smoke would have been easier than this; she refused to be deterred.

With every ounce of willpower she had in her body, she gathered all the love and affection she had for him and pushed it through the tenuous link just like she did when they touched in the dream world.

For an indefinite amount of time, there was no change and doubt began to creep up on her despite her best efforts.

But then there was a subtle shift akin to a ripple in the connection without warning – a feeling her mind and soul associated with him. If she had to describe it, it was like he had brushed his thumb ever so gently across the back of her hand.

Warmth welled up inside her and a giddy smile spread across her face.

She had done it.

_They_ had done it.

Sure, it felt like they were both trying to shout to each other across an enormous chasm – which was not entirely inaccurate considering time and space literally separated them – but it was something. Far more than she could have hoped for, in fact.

Knocking on her front door shattered her concentration, and just like that the feeling slipped away much to her disappointment.

Thoughts of how she would have liked to have been able to revel in her success a little longer similarly vanished, however, when she used her X-ray vision and identified her visitor.

Without wasting another second, she dashed to her front door and all but flung it open. “Alex? What are you doing here?”

Sure enough, Alex was standing on the other side with her arms crossed and her brow furrowed in obvious worry. “Checking on you, what else? You just... _flew off_. One second you were there and the next thing I knew, I was coughing up sand and staring at empty space.”

Kara shuffled her feet and had to struggle to maintain eye contact. “Sorry, I... When I realised the base was in a cave, I freaked out.”

Realisation dawned on Alex's face and guilt mixed with the concern already clouding her features as a curse slipped out of her mouth. “Your claustrophobia. I forgot. Sorry, I didn't mean to-”

“No, it's not your fault.” A humourless laugh escaped Kara. “Literally. I mean, it's not like you made them set up shop there of all places.”

Alex regarded her carefully. “...How are you feeling now?”

“Better,” Kara replied simply and honestly. A part of her was pleasantly surprised; it was as if the ugly argument they had had the last time they had spoken to each other had never happened. Maybe they could-

“Good.” Without warning, Alex's features hardened. “Actually, this makes things easier for me.”

All the warmth in the surrounding atmosphere disappeared. “...What do you mean by that?”

“Now that you know working with the DEO means having to deal with that problem on a regular basis, will you reconsider this stupid course of action you've chosen?”

Aghast, Kara could only stare at her adoptive sister in disbelief. “Are you... Are you seriously trying to use _my claustrophobia_ to convince me to not work with the DEO?”

Impossibly, Alex's glare became even more stony. “I'll do whatever it takes if it means you stay safe.”

Once again, someone she loved was trying to control her life under the guise of looking out for her best interests. Kara was well and truly sick of it. “I'll find a way to deal with it. Thanks for checking up on me but if that's really what you came here to say, I don't want to hear any more.”

Just like that, the animosity between the sisters was unfortunately restored. “I still believe you're making a huge mistake,” Alex said icily, “and it won't be long before you realise it too.”

It hurt like hell but Kara stood her ground both literally and metaphorically. “We'll have to agree to disagree on that. Now if you don't mind, it's been a long day and I'd like to get some rest.”

There was nothing else to say after that so Alex left without another word, and when Kara closed the door she tried her hardest not to feel like the action had an unwelcome sense of finality to it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was my longest chapter yet and while I'm hoping for my sake that it's a one-off, I have a sinking suspicion that won't be the case... Anyway, lots of stuff happened and I hope some of it took you guys by surprise! We're building up to some actual superhero stuff now so stay tuned!
> 
> Season 1 Rant of the Chapter:  
It's her show, they said. Except they proceeded to give her:  
A workplace identical to Clark's (which they then developed into her having the exact same job as him in Season 2)  
Clark's best friend as her main love interest (who was there as a favour to Clark, no less)  
Clark's future sister-in-law as her romantic rival  
Clark's future father-in-law as the military thorn in her side  
Clark's storylines (although I approve of appropriating Black Mercy for her because it fits her better)  
Clark's villains (GODDAMN BIZARRO?! SERIOUSLY?!)
> 
> But sure. Tell me again how it's her show and not his.  
...I'm not bitter, you are.


	4. Debut

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's showtime.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, guess who decided to send off 2019 with one last chapter? Yep, this person right here. Hope you guys enjoy it.
> 
> In other words, Happy New Year and may 2020 be a good year for you!

The sun had almost set completely by the time Kara decided she had done enough 'training' for the day. (She had only taken a short break once to check if her desperate flight home had been noticed by the news and was immensely relieved to find that was not the case.) Establishing and maintaining her connection to Mon-El while she was awake still required a great deal of concentration on her part – and his too, she suspected – but the fact of the matter was that they had _succeeded_. And in less than one day, even. Now all she needed to do was keep working on it so that she could initiate their connection without the help of a meditative trance. After all, she needed to be able to walk around the DEO with her eyes open at the very least if she hoped to accomplish what she wanted to do there.

But that was for tomorrow and the days that followed. Right now, she was _starving_.

One very large dinner from a new but highly recommended Japanese take-out place later – the deliveryman openly gawked as he handed over her order, having presumably expected more than just one woman waiting for the mountain of food in his arms –, her stomach was full and she was dialling Eve's number from the comfort of her couch.

“Hey, you.” There was the muted sound of the television in the background, suggesting that Eve was catching up on one of her favourite shows at the moment. “So what did Alex want?”

For a split second, Kara's mind recalled with perfect clarity the sight of the DEO's front gate. “...Nothing good.” She fidgeted, cursing how even the thought of it was able to send a shiver down her spine. “I... Can we not talk about it?”

“Of course,” Eve agreed readily. “Want to rant about my boss instead then?”

Trust Eve to put the 'best' in best friend, changing the topic so easily and quickly without pressing for answers or missing a beat. “Thanks but I've kind of mostly gotten over it by now. I mean, I'm not saying his stupid interview doesn't still irritate me but there are other things for me to worry and be angry about right now.”

“I could slip a laxative into his morning coffee for you if you want.”

Eve's suggestion made the corners of Kara's lips curl upwards. “Thanks, but I'd rather you didn't get into trouble and lose your job because of me.”

“Suit yourself. By the way, there's something I think you need to know.”

The seriousness of Eve's voice put Kara on alert. “What is it?”

“You're going to have your hands full with those two.”

Her mind having been understandably preoccupied with other things in the past few hours, Kara ended up needing a moment to realise what Eve was talking about. “You mean James and Winn? Because I totally agree on the former but the latter? Why do you say that?”

“I should've expected this,” Eve sighed but continued speaking before Kara could ask or even ponder what that was supposed to mean. “You told me about Winn but I was pretty sure you'd never mentioned James before and couldn't figure out how or why he knew your secret so I Googled him. Am I wrong to think that your cousin sent him?”

“No, that's exactly right.” Knowing Eve would understand, Kara made no effort to disguise the bitterness in her voice. At that point, St'rki hopped up and settled down at her side. “I just... _I can't believe he'd do that. Without asking or even telling me._ It's like... like he still thinks I'm a little kid who needs constant supervision!”

“He probably does. I mean, my cousin Isabel still fusses over her younger brother Nathan at family gatherings even though both of them are already married with children on the way. Some things are hard to grow out of for some people, I guess.”

“Well it's annoying and I wish he'd stop.”

“Nathan says the same thing.”

“That's not making me feel any better.”

“Sorry but that's just how it is.”

Kara sulked a little as she let herself fall backwards until she was lying almost completely flat on her couch. Her actions jostled St'rki in the process who let out an irritated yowl and had to be placated with some petting. “Can we please change the topic again?”

“Fine. What do you want to talk about?”

Seeing a golden opportunity, Kara jumped at it. “Well...” she trailed off as she carefully picked her next words. “You finally met Winn.”

“...So I have,” Eve replied neutrally although there was a hint of suspicion in her tone.

“...And?” Kara pressed, equal parts excited and nervous. This wasn't exactly how she'd planned to introduce her two friends to each other but she was going to make the most of it. “What do you think of him?”

The sound of a very aggrieved sigh came through from the other end of the line. “Honestly... Sometimes you're just too much to deal with.”

Kara frowned, thrown by the unprovoked attack. “What's that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing. Nothing at all.” It sounded like Eve was trying to hold back another sigh. “As for your question, I haven't really formed an opinion of my own yet. None of us stuck around for long after you left; James was the first to head back inside – he didn't look happy, if that helps – but Winn _did_ linger a little longer before he did the same. You know, he actually tried to ask me about you but I told him that he should hear it from you directly. After all, it's your secret.”

“I trust you, Eve. You've been my best friend for years; I have faith you'd know what to share and what to keep to yourself.”

“Still. This is _the_ secret of your life. _Literally._ And he's _your_ friend, not mine. I really don't think it's my place on several levels.”

“All right, all right, I'll talk to him myself.” Kara spared a moment to think about how Kal-El had in contrast decided for himself who should know about her and only told her about it after the fact. “...Thanks, Eve.”

“For what?” Eve asked quizzically.

A genuine smile tugged at the corners of Kara's lips. “Just... being a great friend.”

“That I am and don't you forget it.” Eve's voice was full of faux haughtiness, eliciting a soft laugh from Kara, but when she spoke again she was all business. “Anyway, don't take too long to clear things up with Winn, you hear me? It'll be better for everyone if that gets sorted out as soon as possible.”

“I know. I promised him answers and I'll give them to him. It's just-”

“-that things have been really hectic?”

“Yeah, that.”

“It'll calm down eventually, I'm sure.”

The sudden sound of an incoming call interrupted their conversation, and when Kara checked the notification she was naturally surprised to see the name on the screen. “Um, Eve? Is it okay if I call you back later? I, um... I have an incoming call.”

“It's okay. I should probably go to sleep soon anyway; we're going to start the next stage of that project I told you about tomorrow and I'm going to need all the rest I can get.”

“All right then. Goodnight and good luck tomorrow. Drink lots of coffee if you have to.”

“You don't have to tell me. Goodnight and good luck to you too with everything.”

For a moment after the call with Eve ended, Kara contemplated rejecting the incoming call or just letting go unanswered until the caller gave up. Only the awareness that doing so would constitute running away from a problem kept her from doing either of those things. _It's just a call_, she told herself. _You can always hang up afterwards._

Sucking in a deep breath, she mentally prepared herself as best as she could before she tapped the green button.

“Hey.” Lois' voice was soft, gentle and devoid of any judgement. “I was beginning to think you weren't going to pick up.”

Kara bit her lip and let her gaze drop downwards. “...To be honest, I wasn't sure I wanted to.”

The static of the line did nothing to mask the resignation in Lois' sigh. “I don't blame you for feeling like that. Not after... well, I'm sure I don't have to tell you.” A pause. “Just to be clear, I didn't know what Clark and Jimmy were doing until today when I noticed he was quite upset and forced him to tell me why. If I had, I would've put an end to it before Jimmy could even pack his bags but I had to settle for giving Clark an earful after he confessed his little scheme.”

“...Thanks, Lois,” Kara whispered with genuine gratitude.

“Don't thank me, please. I should've seen this coming so I feel a little guilty I didn't. I mean, Pulitzer-winning journalist fails to notice her idiot boyfriend's dumb but super obvious plot to have his best friend go spy on his cousin for him? I should mail my medal back to the university with a note telling them I don't deserve it. Besides,” Lois added, and for some reason there was an edge in her voice, “I have my own reasons for being pissed at him and Jimmy for this stupid stunt.”

For a moment, Kara considered asking Lois what she meant but ultimately decided against it. Whatever issue Lois had with Kal-El and James, it sounded extremely personal and she didn't think it was her place to pry.

Kara was saved the trouble of trying to figure out an appropriate response when Lois coughed decisively into the line. “Anyway, you leave Clark to me. I'll deal with him, don't you worry about that.”

The still fresh memory of Selina's threat to keep Bruce from flying over to National City immediately came to the forefront of Kara's mind. “...Lois, have you been talking to Selina?”

Lois' chuckle did not in fact make the dread creeping up on Kara fade away. “Oh, so she did something to keep Bruce in line, did she? But no, I have my own... shall we say... _style_.”

“...I don't think I want to know.”

“Are you sure? A good journalist should always ask questions, Kara. Especially if they sense there's a juicy story just waiting to be dug up.”

“I'm perfectly happy letting this story stay buried, thanks.”

“Suit yourself.” Lois let out a genuine laugh, and the light-hearted sound eased the last traces of tension coiled tight in Kara's chest. “Anyway, I just want you to know that I'm on your side in this and I'll do my best to make sure that you'll be the one who decides when the two of you talk next, not Clark. As for Jimmy...” Regret tinged her voice. “I'm afraid you're going to have to deal with him on your own.”

A derisive noise escaped Kara as her free hand curled into a fist, and it actually took some effort to force her fingers to straighten out again. “It's okay, I can handle him.”

“I have no doubt about that.” The sound of a door opening on the other end of the line followed. Kal-El, probably. “Anyway, good luck with everything and get some sleep. Take it from someone who frequently pulls all-nighters: Cherish every single second of shut-eye you can get.”

“I will. Thanks, Lois, and goodnight.”

“Goodnight, Kara.”

It was with a lighter heart than before that Kara ended the call than when she had answered it, and that kept her thoughts mostly positive as she washed up and prepared to follow Lois' advice. She was crawling into bed when her earlier conversation with Eve came to the forefront of her mind and, feeling optimistic about her plan to get Eve and Winn together, decided to consult Mon-El about it.

* * *

However, Mon-El did not in fact react with anything resembling overwhelming approval of the idea when Kara broached it to him after she had updated him on everything else that had happened since their last meeting.

“Are you sure this is going to work out the way you want?”

Flabbergasted, she could only stare at his slightly sceptical expression as she struggled to regain her ability to speak. “What do you mean by that? Of course it will!”

One of his eyebrows arched. “...And where, may I ask, is this boundless confidence coming from?”

“W-Well, I mean...” His undisguised doubt in her words chipped away a little at her certainty in the matter despite her best efforts. “I think they'd be good together! Don't you?”

“Kara, I've never met them myself. Everything I know about them comes from you,” he reminded her.

“...That's true,” she admitted somewhat reluctantly.

“Besides,” he continued, “I don't mean to sound like I'm being dismissive of you or anything because you know I think you're one of the smartest people I've ever known but... Don't you think playing matchmaker is a _little_ outside of the scope of your abilities?”

“Excuse me?” Now she was starting to get offended. “I can totally do it! Just you watch!”

The corners of his lips twitched, causing her to have the sneaking suspicion that he was trying very hard not to laugh at her. “All right. If you say so.”

“Don't patronise me,” she huffed, the urge to smack him growing by the second. “Just admit that you don't believe in me.”

A sigh of fond exasperation escaped him as he held his hands up in surrender. “I'm just advising you to temper your expectations. I didn't say you couldn't do it and I'm not saying you shouldn't try.”

She eyed him suspiciously. “...So... You'll help me?”

He shrugged. “As much as I can at least. Do you have a plan already?”

The ground suddenly became _very_ interesting.

“...You don't, do you.”

“I'm just... waiting for the right opportunity,” she mumbled defensively as she scuffed the floor of her room with her toes.

“You're crinkling,” he pointed out mildly.

Instead of responding directly, Kara sent a pillow flying at his face.

To her irritation, it didn't faze him all that much. “I changed my mind and am now completely convinced that you are fully capable of succeeding at this genius plan of yours.”

“Oh shut up,” she ground out and contemplated throwing something a little harder at him.

“Fine, fine. How about this? Just get them in the same room for starters. You said they haven't actually talked to each other so fix that first and then see how things develop from there. Who knows, maybe you'll get really lucky and they'll get along so well you won't even have to do a single thing.”

“...I suppose I could work on that for a start.” She threw him a furtive look. “...Thanks.”

Mon-El gave her a lopsided smile and finally lowered his hands so that he could tuck them into his pockets. “You're welcome. With that settled, can I change the topic and ask what you plan to do tomorrow about your work situation?”

With just that one question, the mood turned serious. “I don't have a solid plan,” she confessed readily if a bit grimly. “James I can just ignore every time our jobs don't force us to interact but as for Ms Grant... I don't know what excuse James told her to explain why I was so openly hostile to him and I refuse to ask him so that's a big unknown factor I have to deal with. And then there's the fact that I called in sick after I stormed out of her office... All I can hope for is that she doesn't ask too many questions. Or, you know, fire me on the spot.”

“I'm sure you can come up with a way to convince her not to do that,” he tried to reassure her. “Besides, you've proven yourself time and time again at your job, haven't you? Surely she should take that into consideration before she makes such a drastic decision.”

“Hopefully,” she muttered, unable to take much comfort in the amount of confidence he had in her. As much as she wished otherwise, she knew that she was going to have to pay in some form or fashion for her conduct in Ms Grant's office. Only Rao knew what sort of fate awaited her when she went to work tomorrow, and nothing could convince her that it would be anything good.

* * *

Anxiety hounded Kara the moment she woke up and persisted despite efforts to keep it at bay. She had spent the rest of her time with Mon-El going through possible scenarios and solutions but the unfortunate truth was that there was no real way to predict what would happen when she went in to work. The one good sign was that like yesterday, there were no texts from Ms Grant telling her that she was fired and needn't bother showing up at CatCo.

Of course, that could just mean that Ms Grant wanted to fire her in person and make an example of her in the office like she tended to do with employees who pissed her off...

_Positive thinking_, she mentally chanted as she went about her daily routine of getting ready, eating her breakfast – which she didn't quite taste to her immense regret – and then going off to fetch Ms Grant's usual breakfast order.

Before she knew it, she was sitting at her desk waiting for what felt like her impending execution.

Like always, her enhanced hearing helped her identify the exact moment Ms Grant would appear, and time slowed to a crawl as the older woman stalked over like a predator would its wounded prey.

“Keira.” Neither Ms Grant's voice nor her eyes gave anything away. “In my office.”

_I'm SO getting fired_, Kara thought with something akin to dulled horror as she robotically stood up and followed Ms Grant into the woman's office. As if she was aware of Kara's rapidly degrading state of mind, Ms Grant took her time settling in before she finally addressed her assistant.

“So.” The seemingly innocuous syllable sounded like a death knell. “Mr Olsen explained the situation yesterday after you threw your little temper tantrum.”

A part of Kara bristled at the description but she bit her tongue and reminded herself she was standing on thin ice. Ms Grant hadn't fired her – _yet_ – but one wrong move on her part would no doubt make that possibility a reality in a heartbeat.

Ms Grant narrowed her eyes slightly at Kara's silence. “I didn't get to where I am today without doing my due diligence, Keira, and no one with a single working braincell has ever accused me of forgetting where I came from. In case you're actually dumb instead of playing the part, that means I prefer to have all the facts in hand before I make a decision.” Impossibly, her gaze became even more piercing. “Care to provide your side of the story?”

It sounded like a request but Kara knew better even as she knew that she had to stand her ground to some extent. Telling the truth was not an option but lying wasn't either considering she highly doubted that would work on Ms Grant. In other words, she was going to have to tread _very_ carefully. “I'm not sure what he told you,” she said truthfully, “but I'm sorry, Ms Grant; it's a very personal matter and I would prefer not to discuss it with anyone who isn't already involved.”

The look Ms Grant levelled at her made Kara suddenly feel like she knew exactly how the characters who were about to be interrogated by Jack Bauer felt. Just as things were starting to get overwhelmingly intense, however, something flashed across the older woman's face and she seemed to relax just a fraction. It was most likely wishful thinking but Kara thought it looked a little like... respect. “Will this affect your work?”

Kara blinked, utterly thrown by the unexpected question. “W-What?”

Oh, there was that expression of undisguised irritation and disdain she was used to seeing. “Your _work_, Keira. The things I hired you to do which includes interacting with my heads of department on a regular basis. That includes Mr Olsen, who I went to great lengths to recruit. I don't expect you to know how troublesome it is to hire competent people, Keira, but it's not a process I like to suffer through especially not frequently. That applies to both you and him.”

The ultimatum went unsaid but was as clear as day. “Yes, Ms Grant,” Kara replied as confidently as she could. “I won't let this affect my work.”

“Good.” Ms Grant paused to take a sip of her drink before she continued. “Now go prepare a termination letter for me.”

The whiplash was enough to make Kara's head spin. Hadn't she just been told that she wasn't going to get fired? Or had she misread the situation completely? “M-Ms Grant?”

Giving no indication that she had noticed or cared, Ms Grant didn't even look up from her computer screen. “I've emailed you a list of Tribune employees. You can choose to do it however you like – I don't particularly care – but it would be nice if you hand-wrote them. Use the lesser card stock.”

Kara's immediate relief that she had not in fact just been asked to write her own termination letter evaporated just as quickly. “W-Wait, you're really going to lay them off?” she sputtered in shock. “But didn't you say that you were going to use news about that mysterious woman to save the Tribune? A-And there's the presidential elections! Senator Marsdin's surging in the polls and expected to win! That's worth writing about, isn't it? Plus, the Tribune was your first acquisition! Aren't you going to try a little harder to save it?”

The way Ms Grant stopped and glanced up from her work almost made Kara regret her outburst. “Look outside the window, Keira. Do you see anyone flying around out there catching more planes falling out of the sky? Or doing anything remotely interesting besides obviously hiding? And as for the elections, everyone – and I mean even those illiterate basement dwellers that erroneously consider themselves the future of journalism – is already writing about it. As I said in the meeting, our local plane-catcher is the key to saving the Tribune and if there is no 'her' to write about, there will be no more Tribune either. I'm running a business here, not a charity. There is no room for sentiment – especially not when it costs money and impacts profits. Now go do your job or there'll be one more name on that list.”

Ms Grant's threat could not have been clearer if she'd spelled it out, and Kara's mind whirled as she walked dazedly back to her desk. She'd thought that she would have a bit more time to get everything in her life mostly sorted out before she had to make her official superhero debut but that had clearly been a miscalculation on her part. There was no more time to spare – not if she wanted to prevent the Tribune from being shut down and at least a dozen of her colleagues from losing their jobs.

“Hey, Kara?”

At the sound of her name, she looked up from the blinking cursor of the blank document that was supposed to be her draft termination letter to find Winn standing in front of her desk. Judging by the look of uncertainty playing across his face, she had a pretty good idea what he wanted to talk to her about. “Hey, Winn. Listen, I'm sorry about running off so abruptly yesterday in the middle of...” she gestured vaguely to avoid having to say it out loud in case someone was eavesdropping, “...all that.”

“N-No, it's okay.” He shook his head and stuffed his hands into his pockets although it didn't do all that much to make him seem less nervous and uncertain. “You've got a lot on your plate. I get that.”

“That doesn't mean I should ditch my friends every time something comes up without caring about how they might feel. Plus, I still owe you some answers. I want to make it up to you – on both counts.”

Her words made him perk up just a bit although it was clear he was trying not to show it. “Sure! I mean, there's no rush since it's not a life or death situation or anything like that but... yeah.” As if he had suddenly realised how miserably he was failing to hide his enthusiasm, he started gesturing wildly in the direction of his desk. “I'm just... going to... get back to work now.”

Torn between feeling amused at his behaviour and guilty about feeling that way, she offered him a warm smile. “How about we have lunch together today? It'll be on me. We'll go to Noonan's, find a private enough spot and then you can ask me all the questions you want while we eat.”

“Great!” If he nodded any more vigorously, she was half afraid his head would fall off. “I'll see you in a few hours then!”

_At least one of us is happy right now_, Kara thought somewhat glumly to herself as she watched Winn scuttle back to his workstation. With great reluctance, she returned to staring at her computer screen and her troubled thoughts over what her most recent task meant for everyone working in the Tribune. Ms Grant's email had stated that the letters were to be dated a week from now so she had to act before then if she really wanted to save the newspaper. But who could she ask for advice?

The logical part of her brain immediately put Kal-El – and by extension James – at the top of her list but she threw them out with a vengeance. She absolutely refused to go to them for help unless she absolutely needed it and this most definitely did not meet that threshold. Bruce and Selina came to mind next but she was forced to eliminate them as well; after all, the two of them operated almost exclusively at night and did not generally need or care about generating positive news coverage.

It was as she was stewing over her latest dilemma that a truly unorthodox solution presented itself out of the blue, and just like that she knew how she could kill two birds with one stone. Without wasting another second, she pulled out her phone and sent Eve a quick text asking if she would be free to help with something during the weekend.

Then she (im)patiently waited for her lunch break so that she could speak in private with Winn.

Of course, Winn was still the more excited one between the two of them; when he showed up for their lunch date, he was practically vibrating with pent up energy and bursting at the seams with questions. In fact, it was a small miracle he'd managed to restrain himself until they were as alone as they could be in the restaurant.

“You're connected to Superman, aren't you?!” he blurted out the moment the coast was clear. “That's why James Olsen is here and knows your secret!”

Once again, she found herself filled with less than positive emotions for her cousin but she did her best to bury them for now. “You're right on both counts. He's my cousin.”

Somehow, her confirmation still seemed to leave him stunned speechless for a few seconds.

Seeing a golden opportunity to set another part of her ambitious plan in motion, she pounced. “By the way, before you ask any more questions, there's something I'd like to ask you...”

* * *

On paper, the plan was very simple: She was going to make her debut as National City's very own superhero over the weekend. In order to do that, she was first going to need a suit... and who better to ask for help in making that happen than two of her best friends? This way, they would not only be in the same place on neutral ground which would be her own apartment but they would also have to talk to one another and work together. If Rao smiled on her, this would be the beginning of a beautiful relationship. (Mon-El had conceded that it was a workable plan but once again cautioned her not to get her hopes up although she thought he was being a little too pessimistic for her liking.)

But before she could actually achieve all that, she was going to need the appropriate materials.

In other words, it was time to call Selina and check in on the situation at Wayne Manor.

Her initial call went unanswered, however, so Kara left a voicemail and put the matter out of her mind as she waited for a response.

Unusually, Selina did not call back but rather sent a short and simple message instead.

'Keep your Friday evening free. You need to be home to receive the delivery.'

The ability to come across as simultaneously specific and vague was a Selina speciality, and Kara had gotten so used to it over the years that she accepted it at face value. Wayne Security was probably being used to transport something of such immeasurable value so she expected something along the lines of an imposing truck driven by an equally imposing man dropping off a giant box.

As such, she got the shock of her life when she opened her door that night to find none other than the esteemed butler of Wayne Manor standing in the hallway with two large cases at his sides.

“A-Alfred?” she stammered, her surprise rooting her feet to the floor. In contrast, St'rki who had come to check the identity of their visitor meowed approvingly and wound himself around the man's legs in welcome.

“Good evening, Ms Danvers.” Alfred paused briefly to bend down and pat the cat's head. “May I come in?”

“O-Of course!” The simple request – which should have been unnecessary to begin with – was enough to jolt her back to reality and she quickly moved so that he could get through the door. Thankfully, her manners kicked in fast enough for her to beat him to the cases he had brought with him and she carried them in before closing the door behind them. “Sorry, I, um... I wasn't expecting...” she floundered, completely lost as to what to say.

“Master Bruce wanted to ensure that the materials you requested would arrive safely,” he said simply.

That explained it; after all, there was no one Bruce trusted in the world more than Alfred. “Thank you, Alfred,” she told him sincerely as she watched him wordlessly take over her kitchen and begin preparing drinks for both of them. Knowing she wasn't going to be able to convince him to let her do it instead, she sat down at the dining table and left him to his task. (She idly wondered if it was a general butler thing or a Pennyworth thing.) “I'll be sure to call Bruce and thank him as well.”

“Please express your gratitude to Ms Kyle as well,” he replied without turning around, making it impossible for her to see his expression. “She was the one who broached the subject and advocated for this course of action.”

It was suddenly hard for her to look at him, and she had to force the next words out of her mouth. “...Alfred, are you... are you mad at me?”

He stilled, and for an indeterminate amount of time the only movement in the apartment was the lazy swishing of St'rki's tail as the cat watched them from his perch on the coffee table.

As the silence stretched on, Kara found herself regretting asking her question. Having spent a fair amount of time in the Wayne household and learning its difficult history for herself, she knew all too well how Alfred felt about Bruce's midnight 'excursions'. For him to watch her make the same life-threatening and potentially fatal choices that his once young charge had made and continued to make...

She had never met her grandfather as he had passed away before she had been born but Alfred was everything she had imagined Seg-El had been in life. It didn't matter that the two men had lived vastly different lives especially when it came to their work; the old butler had the same strong and commanding but still warm and gentle aura that she detected from the holograms of her grandfather. Consequently, disappointing one felt like disappointing the other... and she didn't think she knew anyone who liked disappointing a beloved grandfather.

Just as she was about to say something to break the tension, however, Alfred's shoulders sagged and a barely perceptible sigh escaped him. “I am not upset with you, Ms Danvers. I am just... upset.”

“Oh.” She dropped her gaze down to her lap to stare at her fidgeting hands.

Another sigh filled the silence, and a series of soft footfalls followed before a steaming cup of tea was placed in front of her. “I wish this day had not come.”

His regret-filled words made her glance up to find him wearing an expression that truly showed his age and all the emotions he usually kept in check. “I'm sorry,” she whispered, at a loss as to what else she could say.

With just those two words, he was back to being the Alfred she knew. It made her think about the masks they all wore and who – or what – exactly those masks were meant to protect. “Do not apologise. Not when we both know that you were always going to choose this life, one way or another.”

“I'm still sorry,” she told him, and wondered which of the many things she was apologising for that he was most willing to accept at the moment.

He smiled but it did not quite reach his eyes, and she wondered if he was seeing her or a younger Bruce in that moment. “I want you to be safe.”

“I will.” Unable to hold herself back any longer, she all but leapt to her feet so that she could hug him. “I'll be careful, Alfred. I promise.”

“And I will hold you to that.” Her invulnerability made it almost impossible to feel his hug but she appreciated the gesture all the same for as long as it lasted. Then he cleared his throat before releasing her and she took that as her cue to do the same. “Now. To business.”

“To business,” she echoed with a wry smile as he fetched one of the cases and opened it on her dining table to reveal several carefully wrapped packages.

“You may have realised that Master Clark's suit is not made of any kind of cloth found on Earth but rather one from your home planet,” he began to explain. “Master Bruce was able to manufacture the meta-material once he was given access to parts of the Fortress of Solitude's database and found out the chemical composition. Since then, he has always ensured that spare material is always available should Master Clark's current suit ever need to be replaced.” With almost deliberate slowness, he unwrapped one package to reveal cloth that had been dyed a familiar shade of blue. “This, however, is for yours.”

Her breath caught in her throat as she caressed the material with a trembling hand. Somehow, it felt like the reality of her decision had never truly sunk in until she was actually touching physical proof of it. _I'm really doing this_, she thought to herself with a surprising amount of shock. _This is really happening._

Alfred let her be, patiently waiting for her to collect herself before he spoke up again. “Would you like to take a break, Ms Danvers?”

She took a deep breath and shook her head. “I'm okay, thank you.” She nodded towards the other case that remained unopened on the floor. “Is that spare material for me?”

“No, Master Bruce sent me with what he could manufacture on short notice but rest assured that you will have your share of spare material soon enough. _That_ would be the machine you will need to tailor your suit as ordinary methods will understandably not be able to so much as scratch the meta-material,” he corrected her as she picked it up and he made room on the table for it. “I will now teach you how to use it so listen carefully...”

* * *

Alfred had left shortly after a dinner which he had insisted on cooking, and Kara had spent the rest of the night making sure that she had remembered his instructions clearly. (It was a good thing she'd bought groceries just yesterday because she didn't think she could have dealt with the shame of having to feed him take-out or leftovers.) Bruce had neither answered nor returned her call – most likely on account of him being out on patrol – but she woke up the next morning to a simple message waiting for her on her phone.

'You're welcome. Be safe.'

The deceptive shortness of the message belied the multitude of emotions she was sure Bruce had been feeling when he had sent it, causing her own heart to clench painfully in her chest. She made sure to send him a similarly short thank you message along with a promise to be careful before she put all her concerns about the people of Wayne Manor out of her mind.

After all, she was going to need to focus if she wanted to work on her plan to bring two of her close friends together.

Unfortunately for her, things started to go wrong the moment both the aforementioned individuals showed up at her apartment. (She couldn't even blame St'rki for it since uncertainty over how the cat would react to Winn had prompted her to ask Mrs Needleberg to take care of him for the day.)

“So.” Eve stared at Winn with narrowed eyes and her arms crossed in front of her chest. “We meet again.”

Doing his best to hold his ground even though it was obvious that the intensity of Eve's gaze was getting to him, Winn clutched his pack protectively and stuck his chin out. “Kara invited me,” he said needlessly as if he was trying to defend his presence for whatever reason.

Caught in between and sensing the kind of atmosphere that was building, Kara slowly started to reconsider her plan.

But it was far too late; they were here now, and asking either one to leave at this point felt unimaginably mean. Besides, she was on a schedule and genuinely needed all the help she could get if she wanted to save the Tribune. “Well!” she exclaimed brightly in an effort to banish the tension in the air. “Since introductions have already been made, shall we get started?”

She could have broken out into a cheerful song and dance number complete with glamorous costume and it wouldn't have eased the hostility in the air by even a fraction.

“...Guys, please,” she ended up begging when no other potential solutions came to mind, “I really need your help so can you just... _please_ put whatever issues you have with each other aside for now? For me?”

Mon-El always caved when she used that particular voice along with those two words and thankfully the same thing happened with the two friends right in front of her.

“Fine,” Eve muttered but kept her arms crossed and her eyes narrowed at Winn. “But only because you're my best friend and you asked so nicely.”

“_Thank you, Eve._” Having secured one half of the peace treaty, Kara turned her full attention and puppy dog eyes on the other uncooperative party. “Winn?”

“...All right, all right, stop looking at me like that,” Winn pleaded, exuding an air of defeat tinged with misery.

Kara beamed and pulled him in for a quick hug. “Thank you, Winn.” Filled with exuberance, she released him and gestured for them to come closer to the dining table where she had prepared some sketching paper. “Okay, down to business. As I told you when I invited you over, I need a supersuit if I want to go out there doing... well, superhero stuff. And since I need to do something by tomorrow if I want to stop the Tribute from being shut down, there's no time to waste. Now, there are a few things I know I want the suit to have but I'm open to ideas in general so fire away.”

“No capes,” Winn was quick to give his first bit of input. “Capes are lame. You can tell your cousin I said so.” Then he paused and visibly reconsidered his words. “Actually, never... never do that. Please.”

There was no way or reason to tell Winn that her cousin was currently persona non grata in her life so Kara decided to just ignore that part of her friend's advice and move on. “The cape's not an aesthetic choice, Winn. Well, not just that anyway. It helps with the aerodynamics of a flying... well, Kryptonian. Believe me, I've tried going without one; unless you want me to crash around the city like an indestructible pinball every time I make a sharp turn, I'm going to need a cape.”

“Fair enough,” he conceded, a little sheepish at having failed to consider that aspect. “I guess I should've started by asking if there was anything we should consider before suggesting anything.”

“_You're_ the one who jumped the gun,” Eve pointed out with no small amount of antagonism in her voice, causing Winn to throw a glare her way.

“_Anyway_,” Kara cut in to prevent things from getting ugly even as she silently wondered how she could have gotten it so wrong, “aside from the cape, there's nothing much else I can think of. The special materials I have to make my suit are already dyed the exact shade of my family's house colours so that's settled. Oh!” she exclaimed as a thought occurred to her. “Pockets.”

“Pockets?” Winn echoed, somewhat mystified. “You're going to be... well, fighting crime. What are you going to need pockets for?”

“You never know. And I like to be prepared.” In truth, she had already thought of one scenario where a pocket or two would come in very handy and it involved 'appropriating' what she needed from a certain base in the desert. “But I don't really have a good idea of how I want the suit to look in general-”

She hadn't even started asking them what her two friends thought when they both spoke up...

...except they proceeded to continue to prove that this entire exercise was doomed in every way from start to end.

“Skirt,” Eve declared decisively the exact same time that Winn said, “Pants.”

The moment they realised they'd spoken over one other with conflicting answers, they turned and started glaring at each other again.

“Pants are practical,” Winn argued, “and if you're Kara's best friend, you should know that she's a very practical person.”

“We're _women_, Winn,” Eve fired back. “Practical or not, sometimes we – yes, that includes Kara – will sacrifice that for the sake of looking good. And as '_Kara's best friend_', I happen to know that she _does_ in fact like wearing dresses and skirts every now and then. _And_ she looks _great_ in them.”

Unsure how exactly the conversation had gone so off-track, Kara tried to intervene before it could get any more derailed. “Uh, guys-”

Unfortunately for her, she was very blatantly ignored.

“W-Well, I know superhero stuff and this is a _supersuit_,” Winn fought back valiantly. “Pants are the standard! It's like... a respected tradition!”

“Well, _I_ know _fashion_,” Eve countered without missing a beat, “and screw tradition! If you think I'm going to let Kara _literally_ fly around town looking like a cheap knock-off of her cousin you have another thing coming!”

At her wit's end, Kara temporarily gave up her (clearly ill-fated) plan to get her two friends together and tried one more time to regain control of the situation in the hopes of salvaging things. “It's _my_ suit. Don't _I_ get a say in this?”

The last word had barely left her lips when both turned to glare at her with enough murderous intent that she found herself taking a step backwards and genuinely fearing for her life. “_NO_,” they thundered eerily in unison before focusing their attention back on each other.

“You know what? We should settle our differences before this goes any further or nothing is going to get done,” Eve suggested with a smile on her face that was more commonly associated with serial killers than harmless best friends.

“Fine by me.” Having apparently decided to stand his ground even though it was clear he was not as unaffected by Eve's smile as he liked, Winn squared his jaw and maintained eye contact with his opponent.

“Um, guys, hold on-” Kara started to protest only to be ignored once again.

Eve clapped her hands as her smile became just that little more demented. “Excellent. Kara, could you please leave us alone for a while? Maybe you can go buy some food while we sort this out.”

Kara gawked. “Wait, what?”

In her stunned state, the Kryptonian who would otherwise have been capable of being as immovable as a mountain found herself being unceremoniously shoved out of her apartment.

“You know what we like so getting something for us should be easy,” Eve said cheerfully before giving Kara one last push to get her past the door. “Take your time!”

“Hey, wait-” Kara's protests continued to fall on deaf ears, and when she turned around it was only just in time to see her front door slammed in her face.

“...Did I... Did I just _get thrown out of my own apartment_?” she asked no one in particular.

There was understandably no response, and for a moment she debated barging back inside until sounds of the incredibly heated argument from the other side of the door reached her ears.

...Maybe leaving them alone for a while was a good idea... for her own sake.

Even so, she thought she could be forgiven for being a little grumpy as she stomped off and did as she had been 'advised', all the while mentally complaining to the Mon-El in her head. Once she thought she had piled enough pastries onto her tray, she made her purchase and headed home at a steady pace. Hopefully that would have given Eve and Winn enough time to iron out their problems with each other and be in a much more companionable mood.

She returned to find Eve looking smugly victorious and Winn a somewhat traumatised wreck.

In hindsight, she should have realised that this had been the only possible outcome. No one could ever hope to win against Eve when she was on a mission.

“Kara! Excellent timing!” Looking like the perfect embodiment of the cat that ate the canary, Eve welcomed her best friend back with a deceptively cheerful smile. “We had a very productive discussion while you were gone and came to a mutual agreement that your suit should have a skirt.”

Somehow, Kara got the feeling that this 'agreement' had not been achieved through peaceful means. “I'm really sorry about this, Winn,” she whispered to him with complete sincerity and no small amount of guilt.

“Don't mind him; he's fine,” Eve waved it all off dismissively. “He gets to make the actual suit and claim full credit – privately, of course – so that's something. Now come here and have a look at what we came up with.”

Kara made a mental note to buy Winn something really nice for his birthday as an apology even as she complied and walked towards Eve. “Please tell me you didn't design something embarrassing.”

“You know I would never do that to you.” Eve actually looked a little offended at the accusation. “I swear you're going to love it _and_ look amazing wearing it. And yes, before you ask, there are pockets.”

Studying the sketch in her hands, Kara had to admit that Eve was right; the design of the suit was clean and simple but had enough unique touches to make it stand out. The main body was blue and sported long sleeves that extended to her wrists and were somewhat connected by a strip that crossed her palm, creating an unorthodox glove-like appearance. Two edges of one side of a red cape had been tucked underneath its collar while a V-shaped gold-coloured belt separated it from a red pleated skirt that cut off at the midpoint of her thighs. Completing the look was a pair of red knee-high boots that looked stylish and utilitarian at the same time.

There was, however, one comment she felt she needed to make and this seemed like the perfect moment to do it.

“Eve, I want you to know that I think this looks great and I really appreciate your help in this,” Kara started cautiously, “but... don't you think a skirt might not be the best option? I mean, I'm going to be flying around a lot and I kind of don't want to worry about flashing everyone in National City every time I take off or land.”

“That's what pantyhose is for, silly,” Eve replied easily. Clearly she had prepared her answer ahead of time and might even have used it as an argument during her 'discussion' with Winn. “The important thing is it's going to be easy to move around in and every picture of you in it is going to look like it belongs in a fashion shoot. Now stop stalling and tell me if you like it or not.”

“...Yeah, I like it,” Kara confessed. “Just... maybe one little thing...”

Without another word, she picked up a pencil and sketched in her family crest so that it covered the chest area.

“Isn't that the same symbol Superman has on his suit?” Winn asked, his curiosity having helped him recover to some extent from his Eve-inflicted trauma.

Once again, Kara refrained from addressing the topic of her cousin. “It's my family crest,” she explained, her eyes trained on the drawing. “It wouldn't feel right not to wear it.”

“...So it's settled then?” Eve asked as she switched between looking at Kara and the sketch. “This is what you want your suit to look like?”

“Yeah.” With a decisive nod, Kara looked at both of her friends in turn and gave them a grateful smile. “Thank you, both of you. I mean it.”

“You're welcome,” Eve and Winn replied in unison, and this time they thankfully didn't get antagonistic towards each other over it.

“Okay then, time to make this suit a reality.” Happy beyond belief, Kara handed over the sketch to Winn and went to fetch the two cases Alfred had brought yesterday. “The machine we need to use is a little complicated so I'll have to walk you through it...”

For a long while, the only sound filling the apartment was the quiet hum of the machine as Winn worked away with the occasional helping hand from Kara while Eve stuck to 'supervising' as she called it.

Before she knew it, Kara found herself holding the suit – _her_ suit – in its completed and perfect glory. “It's... It's...”

“Totally amazing, yes, we all know.” Beyond excited for her best friend, Eve impatiently nudged Kara in the direction of the bedroom. Meanwhile, Winn remained in a silent, blissful trance after having completed what he considered at the moment to be his purpose in life. “Now hurry up and put it on so we can see how it looks on you!”

“Okay, okay! I'm going, I'm going!” Despite her annoyed tone, Kara was not immune from the excitement permeating her apartment, and it was with a mixture of exhilaration and nervousness that she removed her glasses and changed into her supersuit. (Her _supersuit_. _Hers_. This was definitely going to take some getting used to.) Taking a moment to compose herself, she slowly opened her bathroom door and stepped out.

She was greeted by silence and stares.

“...So...” She gestured at herself, anxious and just a little shy. “What do you guys think?”

“...Wow.” Winn was the first to speak although he looked like someone had just whacked him on the head with a baseball bat. “Kara, you look... you look really pretty without your glasses.”

An embarrassed but wry smile curved Kara's lips. (Unnoticed, Eve rolled her eyes.) “Thanks, Winn, but I was kind of talking about the suit. You did an amazing job, by the way.”

“Oh. Oh!” He flushed bright red and smacked himself on the forehead for good measure. “Y-Yeah, that. I mean... You look great. Just...” A thought struck him and he grinned. “Super.”

Exasperated groans were the only response he got, and his protests that it was a perfectly appropriate pun were ignored as Eve stepped forward and took Kara's hands in hers. “You look amazing, Kara. Everyone in National City- no, _the world_ is going to be blown away when they see you.” Then her smile turned sly and she lowered her voice to a whisper meant for Kara's ears alone. “I'm sure _someone_ is going to enjoy seeing you in it too.”

Kara blushed and looked down as she needlessly smoothed her skirt as a means of distraction. She wasn't about to admit it out loud – especially not with Winn being present and liable to overhear something he shouldn't – but she kind of couldn't wait to show off her supersuit to Mon-El and hear what he thought of it.

* * *

“Is it too late to suggest any changes?”

Stunned, Kara could only stare at Mon-El who looked far from impressed by her supersuit. In fact, the expression on his face could not in any way be interpreted as anything positive. “What?”

He trained his gaze on her chest, and something told her he wasn't having any particularly sexy thoughts. “Your family crest. Do you _have_ to wear it?”

She frowned. “What's wrong with me wearing my family crest?”

A heavy sigh escaped him as he closed his eyes and dragged a hand down his face. “Kara, you know as well as I do that there is an entire prison's worth of hardened criminals out there who want revenge on the woman who put them in said prison. Since they can't kill her, they're more than happy to settle for killing her only daughter in her place. In case you've forgotten, that's _you_. If you fly around declaring your identity in such an obvious manner, you might as well be asking all of them to come out of whatever hole they've been hiding in and attempt to relieve you of your head.”

Oh. She should have seen this coming. “They're _already_ hunting me, Mon-El,” she argued but made sure to keep her voice level. “And as past instances have shown, some of them seem to already know how to find me even when I'm pretending to be Kara Danvers. Wearing my family crest won't change that.”

“That doesn't mean that you have to _taunt_ them,” he countered harshly as he snapped his eyes open and glared at her. “Which is _exactly_ how they'll see it.”

“I don't care,” she said simply.

His eyes widened at her words, shock and fury swirling like a gathering storm in those blue-grey orbs. “_Kara-_”

She stepped closer and pressed a hand to his chest, and he automatically obeyed the silent command to stop speaking even though it was obvious that he was struggling to do so. “Mon-El, _please_,” she begged softly. “I need you to understand why I want... why I _need_ to do this.”

The storm continued brewing but still he managed to keep it under control if barely. “...And why is that so?” he forced himself to ask in a strained voice.

“Because...” A part of her was aware that what she said next would probably only make him even more upset and that knowledge made her hesitate. But it was the truth, and they had made a promise long ago even if not in those exact words to never keep secrets from each other. “Because I want to not have to be Kara Danvers almost all the time out there. I want to be able to be Kara Zor-El out in the open without being afraid. I know that I have Tae and Sui but I still have to hide to some extent when I'm with them. And everyone else... Even the people in my life who know my true identity see Kara Danvers instead of Kara Zor-El when they look at me. I want... I want to be free to be _me_. To be seen as the _real_ me. Wearing my family crest on my suit is the closest thing I'll get to having that.”

As she had expected, her words did not cause him to calm down – the opposite, in fact – but now there was a new and different conflict in the mixture. “...Even if it might increase the amount of danger you're in? Even if they won't actually see you as Kara Zor-El but rather as just another superhero who flies around saving the day?”

“Yes.” She let her hand fall but continued to stare unblinkingly into his eyes. “On both counts.”

The emotions that flashed across his face were many and varied but the one that finally won over was quiet resignation. “...I can't change your mind about this, can I.”

“...No, you can't,” she whispered with genuine regret.

He let out another heavy sigh, and for a while there was no other sound but their quiet, attuned breathing. “...Promise me you'll be even more careful,” he finally ended the almost unbearable silence. “That's... That's all I want.”

Knowing that he needed to hear it even though it was understood, she gave him her verbal reassurance anyway. “I promise.”

“All right.”

Silence descended upon them again, and during that time Kara waited somewhat impatiently for him to say something – _anything_ – along the lines of what she had originally expected his reaction would be to the sight of her in her supersuit. “...Well?”

Brows furrowed in confusion, Mon-El stared blankly back at her. “Well what?”

Sometimes she wondered if he really was a Daxamite. “Is that really all you have to say about this?” she demanded to know as she gestured at herself.

He scanned her from head to toe, but this time she caught his gaze lingering for a split second on the hem of her skirt. “...And what exactly do you want me to say about it?”

It was obvious to her that he was being oblivious on purpose but she refused to let him get away with it. Time to take a page out of Selina's playbook (although Kara had no plans to tell the woman of this any time soon... or ever). “Well,” she started in as casual a voice as she could manage, “Eve said I look great in it.”

“You do,” he agreed neutrally.

“Mm. She also said that almost everyone else would have the same opinion and that I'd have a lot of... admirers... as a result.” She paused for effect. “_Male_ admirers in particular.”

He narrowed his eyes and stepped closer so that he could look down at her and only a hair's breadth of space separated their bodies. “Kara Zor-El, are you trying to make me _jealous_?” he asked in a dangerous tone that sent shivers down her spine.

“That depends,” she replied coyly, heart racing with breathless anticipation. “Is it working?”

His response came in the form of a low growl followed swiftly by a very heated kiss.

(She laughed when he struggled at first to figure out how to remove her supersuit.)

(He made her pay for it dearly. Several times.)

* * *

_Okay, deep breaths. Stay calm. You can do this._

It was a bright and cheery Sunday morning – the kind that was perfect for sleeping in, having breakfast in bed, just lazing about in general...

...or in Kara's case, making her superhero debut.

She stepped a little closer to the edge of the roof she had chosen as her vantage point, all the while careful not to let anyone catch sight of her. In order to prevent people from spotting her before she was ready, she had taken every precaution she could think of to the extent of roof-hopping at superspeed instead of flying to her destination. It was to her benefit that the large crowd swarming the street below – police, reporters, busybody civilians – had all their attention trained on the bank in front of them... and for good reason.

At that very moment, there were four armed robbers inside West National City Bank whose attempts to make off with whatever cash was in the vault had gone awry somewhere along the line. Now they had barricaded themselves in the bank along with a handful of customers and guards they were holding hostage and using as leverage to secure their safe passage out of the country.

Fortunately – or unfortunately, depending on the perspective –, she was here, and it was her intention to make sure that they would answer for their crimes.

After the supersuit had been completed last afternoon, the little group that Winn had dubbed the Superfriends – without unanimous support, for the record – had discussed over a lunch of Mexican take-out what would be the best way for Kara to introduce the world to her as-yet-unnamed superhero identity. The general agreement was that while there would undoubtedly be a fair number of crimes and everyday troubles to choose from throughout National City, the first one she would address needed to be critical enough if she wanted to make an impact.

Plus, if she wanted to make a good impression, she was going to have to handle it flawlessly.

No pressure.

Sunday morning had rolled around, she had put on her supersuit, her enhanced hearing had picked up chatter on police channels about a robbery when she had been scanning the city for sounds of trouble... and now here she was.

Taking another steadying breath, she used her X-ray vision and enhanced hearing to give the bank another scan even as she made sure to keep track of what the police were doing. Unsurprisingly, the robbers were still a panicking mess and things between them were starting to get tense – dangerously so for the hostages – so she was going to have to act quickly if she wanted to prevent anyone from getting hurt or killed.

Step by step, she went through her plan once more time before carefully considering a few worst case scenarios and coming up with potential solutions.

Another heated argument broke out inside the bank.

No more planning. It was time for action.

One last fortifying breath. Then she launched herself up into the sky before shooting straight for the front steps of the bank, making sure to slow her descent just before landing so that she didn't leave even a crack on the concrete.

“Hey!” One of the cops behind her yelled the moment he noticed her. “Who the hell are you?! You can't go in there!”

Kara ignored him and reached for the front door. The lock gave way easily enough, being neither made of alien materials nor designed to withstand super-strength, and she strode inside before anyone could stop her with every ounce of confidence she possessed.

Just as she expected, her entrance had not gone unnoticed and the four bank robbers stopped their argument to stare at her with guns pointed in her direction. “What the-”

“Hi!” She gave them her sunniest smile. “I'd like to open an account please.”

Then, when they were busy gawking dumbly at her, she moved faster than she ever had in her life.

The two closest to her were the first to go down, the barrels of their assault rifles bent into uselessness before measured taps on their skulls rendered them immediately unconscious. A fraction of a second later, the same fate had befallen each of the remaining robbers in turn and they too crumpled to the ground where they had stood.

All four down and not a single shot had been fired. No casualties, no injuries, not even a single scratch or ricochet on any of the bank's surfaces.

And, as Eve would probably say if she were present, not a single hair out of place.

Conscious of the fact that she had an audience, she smiled reassuringly at the hostages and gestured towards the entrance. “It's okay. They're not a threat any more. Go on.”

One by one, they shakily got up and shuffled to freedom while she stayed behind to tie up the robbers with the velvet ropes inside the bank. Her mission accomplished, she turned and strode out the way she had come in to be greeted by bright sunlight and an awestruck crowd.

“They're all yours!” she called out to the assembled policemen with a bright, confident smile before shooting off into the sky where no one could hear her burst into a fit of uncontrollable giggles.

* * *

The rest of the day went just as smoothly.

She had flown around National City for a few more hours doing everything from saving a construction worker from falling to his death to carrying a beached whale back out to sea before flying back home to see how her debut had been received by the public.

Aside from a few naysayers which was to be expected, the coverage was overwhelmingly positive much to her relief. There was no way Ms Grant was going to shut down the Tribune now – not when she had established on her first outing that she was going to be the gift that kept on giving to the local news circuit.

It was not long afterwards that she began receiving and processing the more personal reactions to her superhero debut.

Eve's messages naturally sounded more like an overenthusiastic fangirl and Winn's was not much better but at least most of the others had been more measured in comparison. Lois' had been notable in that it had consisted of a a grainy picture of a computer screen with a blank document open on it along with the caption, 'Guess what my next assignment is.'

(All messages from Kal-El and James were deleted in record time without even being opened.)

Just as she had promised, Kara made the effort to call Eliza to discuss the matter, and when the topic of the skirt had come up National City's newly minted superhero wasted no time doing the brave thing of pinning all the blame squarely on Eve.

Selina, however, had beaten her to the punch and called first, conveying Alfred's and Bruce's reserved congratulations and apologising on their behalf for being too tied up in Wayne Enterprises business to call themselves.

“How did they take it?” Kara dared to ask after Selina had offered her own share of praise.

“Pretty okay, all things considered. They're really proud of you, if a bit – or a lot – scared for your safety.” The sound of Selina's sigh crackled through the connection. “Honestly, getting them to drop the stiff upper lip thing for even a second is like pulling teeth from a hungry crocodile.”

“Really?”

“Of course. You know how they are. Although...”

The way Selina trailed off caused dread to slowly creep up on Kara. “...What is it?”

“Well, the truth is those two aren't actually busy with company stuff. They had quite the... interesting reaction to seeing what kind of supersuit you chose to wear.”

Dread turned into growing horror. “...Selina, what are they doing?”

Selina's flippant tone as she replied just made it all sound so much worse. “Oh, Bruce is creating some virus or whatever that he's going to put on the internet so the moment anyone posts an upskirt shot of you it's going to get deleted immediately.”

Kara choked on air.

“And the personal info of the pervert who took it is going to be mined and fed directly to the Batcave's mainframe so Alfred can pay them a very friendly visit when they least expect it.”

“S-Selina, please,” Kara found herself begging as disturbing mental images of people being tortured to death by Wayne Manor's multiskilled butler crowded her head. “You have to stop them. Remind them I'm wearing pantyhose! Whatever you need to say to convince them not to go through with this!”

“Are you kidding me? I haven't had this much prospective fun since the time Bruce and I had to pretend to break up for one of his schemes and I spent every second of some fancy party we had to attend driving him absolutely _insane_ with jealousy by flirting with every other guy in the room.”

“_This is your idea of FUN?!_”

“Of course! Why, it's like you don't know me at all!” Selina chirped in a way that implied she was grinning like an Arkham Asylum escapee on the other end of the line. “Oh dear, look at the time. It's been a busy day over here and I should go see if I can do anything to help. Goodnight!”

“Wait-”

It was futile; a 'click' announced the end of the call, and every attempt to reach anyone in Wayne Manor after that was met with utter failure.

Kara finally gave up after nearly twenty tries in total and spent the following few minutes praying fervently that no one would try to take any embarrassing photos of her in her supersuit for their sake.

In the ensuing silence, she stared forlornly at her phone. One person in particular had not sent any messages, much less called, and she didn't know how to feel about it.

* * *

Across town, another person was also staring at their phone except with the opposite dilemma.

“Come on,” Alex tried to goad herself as she kept her gaze fixed on the stupid device in her hand. “You can do it. You can call her and tell her that you think she did a good job today and how proud you are to be her sister without saying anything that might upset her like how you still think she's making a horrible mistake that will get her killed in the end. It's easy. Keep it short, simple and sweet. That's it. That's all you need to do.”

But her hand did not move, and after several more agonising minutes of trying and failing to convince herself to go through with it Alex gave up and poured herself another overly generous helping of vodka instead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so Supergirl has finally made her debut! Except she hasn't been named Supergirl yet; that will come later. But things are picking up speed now and I hope you all continue to stick with me through 2020 as the story continues!
> 
> Season 1 Rant of the Chapter:  
Repeat after me: Kara is bulletproof. HER CLOTHES, HOWEVER, ARE NOT. So unless her supersuit is ALSO bulletproof, do you know what's going to happen every time she goes out to fight crime and gets shot at? Two words: CLOTHING DAMAGE. You can't even ask me to suspend disbelief WHEN YOU HAVE THE CAPE GET RIDDLED WITH BULLETS BUT EVERY OTHER PART OF THE SUIT IS JUST FINE. Also, the whole "using Clark's baby blanket as her cape" thing feels the warm and fuzzy type of sentimental if you don't focus on the part where something of his just HAD to be part of even HER SUIT. (Yes, I'm still bitter.) (Also there's the "baby blanket" part but that's a whole essay on its own.)


	5. Hunt(ed)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A hunt ensues... but who is the predator and who is the prey?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Today is the birthday of someone in this wonderful fandom family so this author's note is a special shout-out to that crazy individual.
> 
> Happy Birthday, akane171! Hope you like your birthday gift, you insufferable monster!

Following the revelation about Bruce's and Alfred's reaction to her supersuit, Kara spent her evening making and adding a pair of red shorts to her new outfit. The moment she finished, she wasted no time messaging all three residents of Wayne Manor about it in the hopes that it would convince two individuals in particular from giving up their highly unsettling plan to punish any potential perverts out to take advantage of her choice of suit design.

To her immense distress, neither of the men gave any indication they even received her message.

Selina, unsurprisingly, did nothing to help.

'It's cute how you think this is going to make them stop,' the woman texted back along with a string of emojis that conveyed far too much amusement at the situation than Kara would have liked.

At the end of the day, she was forced to accept that this was yet another thing in her life that was beyond her control and she was just going to have to deal with it.

“I guess I should probably thank them when I finally meet them,” Mon-El said when she shared this particular development with him that night. “I mean, what you described is probably not how I'd go about it but protecting you from such embarrassments _is_ something I'm pretty sure I should be doing if I could considering the nature of our relationship.”

“Not you too...” she groaned as she buried her head in her hands. “For the last time, I'm wearing shorts now and perfectly capable of taking care of myself! If something like that really happens, I'll deal with it on my own!”

“...And your solution to people spreading that kind of pictures of you would be...?” he asked in a tone that heavily implied he wasn't expecting a proper answer.

She stewed as she looked up and glared daggers at him, unable to prove him wrong (at least not right now). “I would've figured something out.”

“Of course. Anyway,” he smoothly changed the subject before she could decide how big a pillow to throw at him, “that aside, I believe you have a more pressing issue on hand that you need to figure out a solution for as soon as possible.”

A frown creased her brow. “Which is...?”

“You didn't have to work today so you were free to do all the superheroing you wanted but that won't be the case for... what is it, five out of seven days a week? And that doesn't even include the odd occasion where you have to follow Ms Grant to some weekend event,” he pointed out. “If you neglect your job in favour of flying around and saving the day, there's a good chance you're going to get yourself fired before long... and you're not the kind of person who would put keeping your job over potentially saving someone's life in the first place.”

She let out a heavy sigh and massaged her temples as a headache threatened to start brewing. “I know... I'm going to have to find a way to balance it. Making it so obvious that I have a day job might put my identity as Kara Danvers in jeopardy too so there's that to consider as well. I suppose I could duck out if I hear sounds of trouble somewhere in the city – I mean, I _do_ have superspeed and the ability to fly, after all – especially if there's not too much work to do during that time. Using my lunch break to do patrols is an option too but that would make things even more obvious...”

Silence reigned as they both quietly mulled over the matter.

“I think I'll see if Winn is willing to help me with that,” Kara finally ventured once she finished wrestling over whether or not to ask more of her friend than she already had. “We work on the same floor and he can see both my desk and Ms Grant's office. If I happen to be needed while I'm out doing some superhero work, he can alert me to hurry back and maybe even cover for me in the meantime.”

Mon-El nodded but remained serious. “A sound plan. But how is he supposed to alert you? Are you going to use your enhanced hearing to listen out for his voice throughout the time you're doing your superhero work?”

“I don't think that would be very practical _or_ feasible. Especially not when my concentration will most likely be devoted to whatever problem it is I'm trying to help with at the moment.” She fell silent as she pondered the new dilemma for a while before an idea struck her. “Oh! I could wear an earpiece that Winn can use to call me directly. It'll have to be one-way – two-way at most – and I'll have to make sure it's encrypted so no one can listen in.”

“I'd recommend technology not from Earth for added security,” he advised. “Arredathi, if you can manage to get your hands on one of their communicators but a Viervinthian encryptor is a good enough substitute. Ultimately, it depends on what your Bokkolid friends happen to have in their treasure troves.”

She hummed, already in the midst of figuring out when she could spare some time to take a trip down to the junkyard where Zinork and his brethren lived. Perhaps she could squeeze in a visit to the Hozz'ni encampment after she had concluded her business there; it had been a while since she last seen Tae and Sui, after all. “Until then, we'll just have to play it really safe. Maybe we could use codenames or something.”

“How about Supergirl?” he suggested cheekily. “It's got a nice ring to it.”

“_Absolutely not!_” she thundered, and did her best to wipe that stupid grin off his face with a good pillow projectile. The sooner she could be well and truly done with that blasted nickname he'd come up for her when she had been a child the better.

* * *

“Of course, leave it to media magnate Cat Grant to put a name to a face,” the newscaster said over footage of a blonde dressed in blue and red safely stopping a runaway car yesterday afternoon. “Ms Grant has dubbed National City's new hero Supergirl, and if Twitter is any indicator, the name appears to be catching on.”

Kara stared in stunned horror at the large television in the general office area as she tried and failed to grapple with the fact that she had quite possibly been stuck with the one superhero name she had wanted least of all. Out of every possible moniker that she could have been given... and she hadn't even said anything to any of the people she had helped yesterday about being related to Superman! Was this just because she'd chosen to wear her family crest and Ms Grant had automatically assumed they were related? Or was it that nothing else had come to mind?

Whichever the case, she could already hear Mon-El laughing his head off the moment he found out about this.

_Maybe it's not too late_, she thought desperately to herself as she turned on her heels and made a beeline for her boss' office. _Maybe I can convince Ms Grant to put out a different name that'll be even more popular in comparison. All I have to do is present my argument in a calm and logical manner._

Which was of course not what she proceeded to do when she reached her intended destination.

“'_Supergirl_'?!” she squawked as she all but dumped Ms Grant's breakfast order on the coffee table, uncaring of the fact that she was essentially talking to the back of a chair instead of the person sitting in it. “We can't name her that!”

At her outburst, the chair spun around to reveal its occupant not unlike the way a cheesy movie would introduce its equally cheesy main villain. “'_We_' didn't,” Ms Grant intoned flatly with an expression that brought to mind an apex predator that had just had its sleep rudely interrupted.

_Oh Rao. Backtrack, Kara. Backtrack THIS VERY SECOND._ “Right. S-Sorry,” Kara squeaked as she mentally scrambled for something a bit more substantial to say that would also save her from getting potentially fired. “I-It's just... uh... I mean, doesn't she look older than... well, a girl? Shouldn't she be called Superwoman instead?”

Ms Grant still looked as if she was contemplating murdering Kara where she stood, and what she said next had almost the same effect. “And who exactly do you think you are to try and lecture _me_ about how to do my job, _Keira_, when you can't even muster enough sense to not buy such cheap pants in such a loud colour, much less wear them out in public?”

The unwarranted jab at her clothes in lieu of a proper response made Kara fume internally. So she had a budget – an extremely tight one at that – and couldn't afford even one of the insane amount of items that made up Ms Grant's gargantuan wardrobe; what exactly did that have to do with their current discussion? But no, she had to overlook it because Ms Grant was her boss and fighting back on something this unimportant could get her into serious trouble (and where exactly was the justice in that?). “I'm just saying that it feels like referring to her as a girl instead of a woman might undermine the importance of what she's doing,” she forced herself to say in as level a voice as she could muster. “You taught me that small details like this can have a monumental effect. If she's supposed to be seen as a hero-”

“_I'm_ the hero here, in case you've forgotten where you work,” Ms Grant cut her off sharply. “_I_ stuck a label on the side of this girl. _I_ branded her. Before this, she was just another nameless flying cheerleader with powers. Now she has an _identity_ – an identity that will forever be linked to CatCo. To the Tribune. To _me_. Everything she does, good or bad, will be something for me to do with as I please. All she has to do is prevent the occasional minor disaster; _I'm_ the one who has to shoulder all the hard work of turning it into something truly worth talking about for better or worse.”

It sounded so much like something Kara imagined Rhea would say about a slave she had purchased – like they were supposed to be _grateful_ to her for considering them worthy of serving her – that she had to bite down on her tongue so hard that she could taste her own blood to stop herself from saying something extremely caustic.

As if she had sensed weakness in her prey, Ms Grant slowly stood up and began walking around her desk so that she could look Kara straight in the eye. “And what do you think is so bad about 'girl', Keira? I was a girl once – still am, depending on who you ask. And look at me now. I own a multimillion dollar company with international reach. I'm powerful. Rich. Hot. Smart. Girls – yes, _girls_ – need good role models in their lives, and 'Supergirl' – who, as I've mentioned is now connected directly to _me_ – will be a source of inspiration for them. Or is that something you object to?”

It was the manipulative argument of a tyrant – in other words, Ms Grant at her worst – and Kara had learned over the course of the past two years that any semblance of victory would come at too high a price to be worth it. “...No, Ms Grant,” she answered through gritted teeth.

“I thought so.” Satisfied, Ms Grant walked back to her chair and sat down again, her attention already focused on the documents spread out in front of her instead of Kara. “Don't you have work to do, Keira? Or is that something you'd like to be relieved of?”

The threat was crystal-clear. “...No, Ms Grant.” Not trusting herself to say anything else, Kara clenched her jaw shut and marched back to her own desk. If Rao was listening and had any mercy for her, there would be a need for 'Supergirl' to punch something very hard in the next few minutes.

Of course, it seemed as if Rao was listening... but had a very twisted sense of humour judging by who had decided to visit her as she was busy trying not to break anything within reach.

“...So. Supergirl.”

_Keep calm. Deep breaths. He's not worth it._ “Unless you have work-related business with me or Ms Grant, I suggest you go back to doing whatever it is you were doing before you made the colossally stupid decision to come over here, James.”

The unwanted presence in front of her desk did not listen. “I just want to talk. And as I've said before, my friends call me Jimmy.”

“And as I've said before, _Olsen_, I _don't_. Leave me alone or those little random inconveniences you've been experiencing since you started working here are going to get a _lot_ more 'inconvenient' in nature.”

Even if she still refused to look up from her work, she could tell that she had taken him completely by surprise. “Wait, _you're_ behind all those incidents?”

“I confessed to nothing of the sort.” The distant sound of a crash followed by several more in the distance reached her ears – a multi-car pileup, perhaps? – and she seized the opportunity to get away from everything pissing her off at the moment. It also seemed like the perfect time to ask Winn if he would help be her spy of sorts. “Excuse me, I have to go talk to someone who isn't you. And _don't. Follow. Me._”

* * *

Winn not only agreed to help all too readily but also volunteered to buy her earpiece for her, touting 'reliable connections' she could only assume was a geek friend of his, and the rest of the day thankfully went a lot smoother in comparison to how it had started.

As such, her mood had improved enough that by the time she went to sleep, she wasn't that annoyed when Mon-El predictably burst into uncontrollable laughter the moment she told him about the superhero name Ms Grant had given her.

She still threw enough pillows at him that every part of him got buried completely under her fluffy projectiles, of course, but she did it more out of simmering irritation – an emotion he evoked in her all too easily and frequently for her liking – than full-blown fury.

To his credit, he sobered up before long and listened attentively like he always did when she needed to vent... and she really needed to vent this time.

“I know this isn't the reassurance you want but you've been working for her for over two years; you know this is how she is when it comes to anything she can use to boost her business. It's... well, nothing personal so you shouldn't take it that way,” he gently advised her as the blue-grey energy in her head wrapped itself around her thoughts just like how his arms were wrapped around her body.

She let out an angry huff that perfectly encapsulated how she felt about his unhelpful words of wisdom. “Easy for you to say. _You're_ not the one who got told to her face that she's now considered _property_... and all because she _named_ me. Like... _Like I'm some stray she picked up off the side of the road._”

The soft kiss he pressed to the top of her head mollified her only by a little. “Well, you'll have your chance to set her straight. Didn't you tell Henshaw that you would be dealing with all the public attention and interest your heroics have gotten you? I know you said it as part of a deal to prevent him from capturing you and the idea is to keep people from learning about the DEO but there's nothing stopping you from using it to your advantage.”

“Yeah, well, right now the last thing I want is to give my story to Ms Grant,” she muttered, uncaring of how petulant she sounded. “I should go give one of her top rivals a special scoop of some kind and show her that she doesn't own me. Maybe even an exclusive interview.”

His laughter rumbled through her entire frame, and she would have elbowed him for finding humour in her misery if he hadn't dropped another kiss close to her ear. “And you would be well within your rights to do something like that. But if I could perhaps suggest you give yourself some time to cool down before you end up doing or saying something you might regret?”

“I know, I know. Just let me enjoy imagining how pissed off Ms Grant would be if I let someone else get my story before her for a while, okay?”

Her grumpy request earned her another chuckle followed by yet another kiss. “All right, but how about we do something a little more fun once you feel like you've done enough brooding? Because I think some cheering up is in order.”

“...What did you have in mind?” she asked, her curiosity piqued despite herself.

“Well...” He pretended to give it some serious thought before he continued. “We haven't played any Garata in a while...”

Oh, now he _definitely_ had her attention. “I don't see why we can't just start now...”

“You sure you don't want to brood just a little more?” he asked teasingly.

She let out an annoyed growl as she disentangled herself from his embrace and got up before pulling him to his feet as well. “I can brood and beat you at Garata at the same time. And if you keep stalling, I'll consider it a forfeit on your part so up. _Now._”

(It was a close match but she won in the end, and just as he had expected she left the dream world in a much better mood than when she had arrived.)

* * *

The next few days of Kara's life were spent getting used to a precarious juggling act of regular paid work at CatCo and irregular unpaid work as Supergirl – Rao did she still resent that name – while still trying to spare time for the people she loved. It felt unbelievably good to finally be free to literally fly in and immediately provide help without having to worry about someone seeing her use her powers... but at the same time she felt like she had been ill-prepared for just how much of her life superheroing was going to consume. Perhaps the most blatant example of this had come in the form of a rude awakening one night courtesy of a small electronics factory practically exploding into flames due to faulty wiring. (The only consolation had been that she hadn't been... _occupied_... when it had happened but it was still a very thin silver lining nevertheless.)

Despite having to now literally fly across the city every now and then – was it just her imagination or were there more accidents, crimes and whatnot than before she had first donned her supersuit? –, she somehow still managed to slip in a visit to the junkyard when Saturday rolled around again. Countless visits and successful deals in the past had earned her enough trust among the Bokkolids living there that Sui no longer needed to vouch for her. Instead, they practically swarmed her the moment she came anywhere close to their homes, waving their 'wares' in the air as they tried to convince her to buy from them in whichever language she had used to deal with them last.

“You should be grateful,” Sui chortled heartily after Kara had finished bemoaning the Bokkolids' overenthusiastic response to her most recent visit. “It made your search for the items you were looking for much easier and faster, did it not?”

“Well, yes, but I would've preferred not getting random bits of salvaged technology shoved in my face one after another,” Kara pouted, the steaming cup of saanth tea in her hands forgotten for the moment. “I don't think I have to tell you this but it's actually not easy to figure out what someone is trying to sell you when it's literally under your nose and five other people are talking and doing the exact same thing at the same time.”

“It is a sign of how much they have come to value you as a customer,” Tae commented although it was obvious from the twinkle in her eyes that she too found Kara's predicament to be rather humorous. “You should see it as due cause to celebrate.”

“Everything to you is cause for celebration...” Kara pointed out somewhat peevishly only to receive nothing but full-bellied laughs in response which made it hard for her to stay even a little annoyed. After days of everyone in her life reacting in their own way to her officially embracing superhero life, it was strangely nice to talk to people who knew her true identity but had no opinion about her flying around the city doing everything from saving lives to plucking cats out of trees. To Tae and Sui, she was still just Kara Zor-El – no different from the Kara Zor-El who had last visited them before she had caught a plane falling out of the sky – and it was, for lack of a better word... refreshing.

Of course, no sooner had she finished that thought did her phone ring and a sense of quiet dread overcame her when she saw the name on the screen.

“Hey.” Winn's voice was the epitome of nervous excitement. “So, uh, not sure if you're in the neighbourhood and heard it yourself but there's a crazy car chase raising hell in East Thurrick Grove right now. Thought you might want to know.”

So much for thinking she could enjoy just a bit of peace and quiet with some old friends. “I'll be there soon,” she sighed. “Thanks for the heads up, Winn.”

“Is it already time for you to depart?” Sui asked with guileless curiosity as she watched Kara get to her feet. “You only arrived a short while ago.”

A sliver of guilt stabbed at her heart but Kara knew she would feel even worse if she stayed. “I'm sorry, both of you. I, um... There's people who could use my help so I have to go. But I promise I'll make it up to you another day.”

Tae waved the apology away with a warm smile as Sui refilled her mother's cup. “Do not be troubled, Kara Zor-El. We all go where we must when we must, and so we will see each other again when the time for us to meet once more is upon us. Until then, please take good care of yourself.”

“I will, thank you. And the same goes for you.” Snapping up a biscuit for the road, Kara bid the Hozz'ni farewell and took off to deal with yet another crisis in National City.

* * *

Unsurprisingly, it was only after Kara had slowly started to feel like she was getting a handle on her new 'routine' that the universe decided to upend her life again.

'Plastino Chemicals. Seagle Warehouse District. Come now.'

The message was from a blocked number – a detail that, coupled with the lateness of the hour, gave her a good idea who exactly it belonged to... and she would be lying if she said that the realisation didn't fill her with a sense of unease.

Even so, she refused to let her fear overwhelm her and only spared a moment to meditate long enough to establish a weak connection to Mon-El as a way to both steel her nerves and signal to him what she was about to do before donning her supersuit and taking off.

Just as she had expected, she found a host of DEO agents setting up a perimeter around one of the buildings when she arrived. One burly guy she vaguely remembered being part of the team that had helped clean up the mess Vartox had made at the power plant gestured towards the door when he spotted her and she took that as permission to head inside.

One too many turns and narrow walkways later, she found Henshaw and Alex standing over a human male lying prone on the floor, his security guard uniform stained with blood courtesy of a foreign object lodged deep in his chest.

It was the first time she had ever seen a dead body.

“...she doing here?” Alex's incensed voice dragged Kara out of the thoughts and emotions that had ensnared her, and she blinked them away to find that her adoptive sister had been talking to Henshaw instead of her.

He levelled a flat look at Alex, unaffected by her aggressive stance and voice. “Your sister volunteered to help with situations like these in exchange for her freedom. I am merely having her keep her end of that bargain. Now get your head back in the game, Danvers, or consider yourself off the case.”

Maybe it was an exaggeration but Kara thought she didn't need her enhanced hearing to pick up the sound of Alex grinding her teeth. “What happened here?” she asked quickly, hoping to defuse the situation even if by just a little by drawing everyone's focus to the reason they had all assembled here in the first place.

“This man, Leak, reported a security breach in his sector before going radio silent,” Henshaw explained as he directed his gaze back to the corpse at his feet. “The security guard who was sent to check up on the situation found him like this minutes later. A call was made to the police shortly afterwards. When certain details came to light, we took over the case and are now trying to figure out what killed him. Hartmann?”

The DEO agent kneeling over the body carefully pulled out the object that had obviously killed the security guard to reveal a relatively long brownish spike. “Organic,” he said as he shone his light at it. “Definitely not from Earth.”

Kara furrowed her brows in concentration as she racked her brain. Something about that spike was very familiar but where could she possibly-

Then it hit her.

She had seen spikes like this one before – twice, even.

The first time, it had been a slightly flickering hologram that had lit up her bedroom. She had been a child – still so young and innocent – staying up late as she waited for her mother to return home from work. After Alura had explained just what had held her up and told her to get some sleep, she had researched the species her mother had mentioned.

The second time, it had been as constructs that had whistled past her head in a facsimile of Warworld's main arena. Being the more recent memory and featuring a much more realistic-looking recreation, it was how she knew exactly which species of alien had killed this human.

“It was a Hellgrammite,” she said with conviction and tried not to flinch when her statement caused everyone within hearing distance to stare at her. “Native to the jungle planet Kordalid. That stinger you just pulled out – You might want to be careful with it because it's poisonous. And I've seen it before.” She left out the where and pressed on. “My mother sent one of their kind to Fort Rozz.”

Snapping into business mode, Alex gestured for one of the other agents to hand her a tablet and began tapping furiously away at it. “According to the data we salvaged from the wreckage of Fort Rozz, there was a Hellgrammite prisoner onboard,” she confirmed once she found what she had been looking for. “Unless there's more of them on Earth, this is most likely the same one.”

Henshaw turned his piercing gaze back on Kara. “What do you know about his species?”

Kara hesitated, unsure how much she should reveal. The information she had found on Krypton's database as a child had been nothing compared to what Mon-El had taught her when he had first added the species to the list of her many training session opponents. Considering the fact that she had no idea just how much data they had managed to glean from whatever Kryptonian technology they had gotten their hands on, she had to be careful. If she revealed she somehow knew more than she should...

“Not any more than what you do, I think,” she lied, secretly glad that Alex was still focused on her tablet and Henshaw was human and therefore lacked telepathic abilities. “Hellgrammites are basically large insect-like creatures – think bipedal hunchback grasshoppers but a lot more deadly – with shapeshifting capabilities that allow them to take on any shape they want – humanoids included.”

“That explains the security footage,” Alex chimed in without looking up. “It looks like the alien disguised itself as a maintenance worker and was trying to steal a small tank of something when the guard caught it in the act.”

“Just what we need.” Henshaw did not seem at all pleased about the situation. “A giant insect trying to steal bomb-grade chemical compounds.”

The many implications in his derisive comment made Kara bristle but she held her tongue. “Do you want me to help you track it down?” she bit out instead.

“No.” He didn't even hesitate. “That's all I need from you. We'll handle it from here.”

So she'd basically just been summoned to be some kind of information dispenser and nothing more. “Fine. I guess I'll just go then.”

To Kara's utter lack of surprise, he had already turned away from her to talk to one of his agents before she had even finished speaking. Meanwhile, Alex who had pointedly avoided talking to her since she had arrived only glanced up briefly with an unreadable expression on her face before busying herself with her tablet again.

It was the closest thing to an interaction the two sisters had had since the night Alex had tried to coerce Kara into not working with the DEO.

Shoving the dull ache the realisation had caused in her chest into a dark corner, Kara took off and spent the flight back to her apartment going over everything she actually knew about Hellgrammites.

One of the apex predator races on Kordalid, they were considered incredibly dangerous even in environments that were vastly different from that of their native planet. This was due not only to their natural abilities which included shapeshifting, above average strength and agility, heightened senses and of course the highly poisonous stingers they could eject from their body – all of which helped them hunt down their prey – but also the fact that they were capable of intelligent thought. However, they were still considered a low-intelligence species because while they had what counted for a language and were self-aware enough to give themselves names, they did not use anything that could even remotely be considered technology – not even the most rudimentary of tools.

“It made them easy to be treated like tools,” Mon-El had told her after she had lost her introductory fight against a Hellgrammite in the arena as part of her post-match lesson. “Perfect assassins and saboteurs if trained well. My parents never did it – at least, not as far as I know – but those with the money and need for it would supposedly hire mercenaries to steal Hellgrammite eggs from Kordalid so that they could raise them to be loyal murderous pets from young. Aside from that, there were instances where adults would be captured alive – usually at great cost either in terms of money or lives – so that they could be killed for the glory of it. There was always at least one being used in a challenge or showcase match on Warworld every time I visited.”

Her mother had never said what crime the Hellgrammite had committed for it to earn a place in Fort Rozz – only that the Military Guild had been the one to capture it. But that wasn't important right now; what was important was figuring out what it had been doing at Plastino Chemicals mere hours ago.

* * *

“My best guess? Fending off starvation.”

Kara stared, having not expected such an answer. “Food? Really?”

“Every living thing on Kordalid is a chlorine-based organism,” Mon-El explained with a shrug. “I imagine that on a planet primarily composed of carbon-based lifeforms, finding something to eat would be incredibly hard.”

“And the reason you didn't tell me this the first time you taught me about Hellgrammites would be...?” she pressed, a tiny bit miffed.

He raised an eyebrow at her as the corners of his lips twitched. “Unless there's some kind of battle strategy that involves feeding your enemy what they like that I'm not aware of, I don't really see how knowing their diet would've been useful to you.”

“...It's still worth knowing,” she mumbled defensively, unwilling to admit that he had a point.

“You and your need to know everything,” he teased her. “If that's the case, shall I start giving you lectures about the life cycle of... say, the lurmaxx then?”

A noise of disgust escaped her at the thought of those slimy monstrosities that inhabited the planet Bogt. “_No thank you._ And can we get back on topic please?”

“If you insist.” Despite his words, she could tell that he was still suppressing a cheeky grin. “You said it attacked a chemical manufacturing facility, right? I'm betting that if you check what it stole or was trying to steal, you'll find it to be a chlorine compound of some kind.”

Her irritation at him faded away at the realisation of what confirming his guess entailed. “The only way to do that would be...”

“...the DEO,” he finished for her as the last traces of his grin vanished as well.

“I can do it,” she declared with as much conviction as she could muster. “I'm not as afraid of them as I used to be and you'll be with me through our connection. I'll be fine.”

It was hard to expect him to be convinced by her words considering the fact that she was not as confident in herself as she would've liked, but to his credit he refrained from trying to dissuade her. “Just be careful and-”

“-run at the first sign of danger.” She stepped closer and kissed him on the lips. “I know. I will.”

* * *

It wasn't all that hard to locate the entrance to the DEO's base the next morning after recalling the direction in which Alex had driven that day, but finding it proved to be much easier than actually walking up to it, much less going inside. Not even the knowledge that she was not at risk of losing her day job by being here during office hours thanks to Ms Grant being away at some private event could ease her nerves.

At least she'd developed her ability to maintain a connection with Mon-El without needing to stay in a meditative trance, Kara thought to herself as she continued staring at the imposing metal gate. Meditating was still necessary to establish it, unfortunately, but that seemed to be such a small price to pay that it might as well be insignificant. After all, she had no doubt that without that support, her knees would have started shaking by now at the very least.

As if he had somehow sensed that she needed it, she felt a weak pulse come through from his end that felt like he'd tightened his grip around her hand. “You can do this,” she could almost hear him say as if he was standing right next to her.

She tilted her chin up defiantly and strode forward.

The DEO agents standing guard at the entrance regarded her silently as she stood before them, and for a tense moment she expected to be turned away with threats of violence... but then they moved to let her pass as the gate slowly slid open. “Keep going straight,” the burlier-looking one told her in a gruff voice. “You'll reach the command centre after passing five left turns.”

“Thank you,” she managed to reply, slightly surprised at his helpfulness, and gave him a slight bow as she walked past him. It was strange, but his small act of kindness bolstered her confidence and made it slightly easier to endure the stares she could feel boring holes into her back as she traversed the thankfully rather spacious tunnels. They weren't all bad people; she should have known that, but somehow she had still needed to get first-hand proof of it to realise that it was true. At the end of the day, they were just trying to protect their own kind from outside threats, and how could she really hold that against them when there were those like Zod and Vartox showing just how dangerous aliens could be?

Henshaw, on the other hand... That was another story entirely.

Right on cue, she heard his voice just as she reached a voluminous cavern filled with computers of all kinds and buzzing with activity as agents tapped away at keyboards or strode purposefully in and out of the space she was sure was the command centre.

“What's the news on the Hellgrammite?” he said, his back to her and his attention focused on the vast array of screens covering one section of the cavern wall.

“We've confirmed six similar attacks on chemical plants across the country over the past year and each of those facilities stored confiscated DDT.” Of course, standing next to him was none other than Alex who was similarly oblivious to her adoptive sister's arrival. “Between how much was taken from those places and whatever it managed to get from Plastino Chemicals, it's got enough chemical components to build a weapon of mass destruction that could wipe out half of National City.”

“That's not what it's doing with them,” Kara said authoritatively as a way of announcing her presence and once again had to stop herself from reacting outwardly when her declaration drew far too many eyes to her.

Henshaw's surprise was evident on his face and the same could be said for Alex but he recovered first and studied Kara with a searching gaze. “Very well. I'll play along. If it's not building a weapon, what does it need DDT for?”

_Here goes nothing._ “It's eating it.”

And there it was: the look of quiet incredulity she had been expecting. “...Right.”

Strangely enough, his blatant unwillingness to believe her bolstered her courage and she took a step forward towards him. “Look, you obviously asked me to join in the first time yesterday because you wanted to use what I know. Well, I'm telling you now what I know: The alien you're looking for is a chlorine-based organism so DDT, being a chlorine pesticide, would probably be the closest thing on Earth it can find to food. But ever since the government banned DDT and started destroying the remaining stockpiles, its food sources have been shrinking away to nothingness. It's hungry. That's all there is to it.”

The tense stand-off continued for several minutes until Alex surprisingly broke the silence. “Sir, we don't have any other leads,” she pointed out neutrally. “It's worth a shot.”

He glanced in Alex's direction for a moment before looking back at Kara. “Well then,” he finally said, “if this thing is hungry, let's buy it some dinner. Agent Danvers, find out which other companies in National City still have DDT stockpiles and make the necessary arrangements.”

“What do you plan to do after you've lured it in?” Kara demanded to know, a spike of fear for the Hellgrammite running through her.

His eyes narrowed imperceptibly. “It killed a human. What exactly do you expect us to do with it?”

“I can help you bring it in peacefully,” she argued. “No one needs to get hurt. Your people especially. Hellgrammites are not to be taken lightly; just because you have more guns than the average security guard doesn't mean you're going to be able to take it down easily.”

“I don't trust you, Kryptonian,” he replied bluntly. “Especially not when you seem to care a lot more about a murderous criminal's well-being than the damage it has caused and will cause if it's allowed to continue roaming free. We have an agreement and I will not hesitate to use you if I feel the need but in light of your... _loyalties_, consider yourself nothing more than glorified backup on the mission tonight.”

“Sir!” Alex exclaimed, shock and outrage colouring her voice. “You can't possibly-”

“_Agent Danvers._” With those two words and a look that reminded Kara of Ms Grant, Henshaw silenced Alex effortlessly. “You are dangerously close to being taken off the strike team for tonight's mission. With that in mind, would you like to finish that sentence?”

“...No, sir.” If Alex ground her teeth any louder, Kara was sure the whole of National City would be able to hear it.

“Good.” He turned back to face Kara. “You'll know when and where to be later today. I don't care whether or not you show up. Now get out of here; we have work to do.”

“Fine. But you'd better-”

The rest of her sentence died in her throat when she finally noticed something that looked very familiar in a corner of the cavern that she hadn't noticed on her way in.

“Is that...” Her steps were slow and shaky as she approached it. “That's my pod.”

“We keep it here as a reminder of the day you crashed on Earth... as did Fort Rozz. The day our troubles with aliens multiplied a hundredfold,” he explained in an almost frustrated tone, sounding as if he didn't want to be talking about this at all. “For me, it's my personal reminder of why I wake up every morning, come here and do what I have to do.”

She whirled on him, her anger overriding her fear of him for the moment. “It's _mine_,” she snarled. “_And I want it back._”

“You're on thin ice, Kryptonian.” He was naturally unmoved. “Unless you want your invitation and perhaps even your current freedoms revoked, you'll do as I say. _Immediately._”

Now it was her turn to grind her teeth, but just like Alex, she couldn't see a way she could win this battle without losing the war. “This isn't over,” she spat before storming out without sparing either him or her adoptive sister a second glance. Getting her pod back could wait; at least she knew exactly where it was now and could apparently access it without much trouble so getting the data she needed would prove easier than expected. Right now, she had to figure out a way to prevent the Hellgrammite from getting needlessly killed.

An idea struck her as she was flying back to CatCo – a way to kill two birds with one stone, even – and it seemed like the best possible plan on short notice... but it required a trip to the Fortress of Solitude.

* * *

It had been over a decade since the last time she had stood in front of these doors, but somehow Kara still felt like that little lost child even as she effortlessly lifted the dwarf star key to the Fortress of Solitude and let herself inside.

Everything was still the same. Absolutely nothing had changed since then. The one remaining physical piece of her home and it might as well be stuck in time just like how she had been sleeping away all those years in the Phantom Zone.

She couldn't decide how exactly she was supposed to feel about that.

“Get a hold of yourself, Kara,” she scolded herself under her breath as she shook her head free of those unnecessary thoughts. “You can wallow in the past later; there are more important things for you to think about right now.”

Mind focused once more on her mission, she strode purposefully up to the Fortress' computer and started it up. The first thing she did was key in the command to summon some much-needed help in the form of an old family friend of sorts.

“Hello, Kara Zor-El,” Kelex said as the robotic assistant emerged from the depths of the Fortress where he had no doubt been 'resting'. “How can I help you today?”

It was strange how the smallest things could make someone feel nostalgic, she thought idly to herself. “Hello, Kelex. Do we have a translator device of any kind stored here?”

“Yes, there is one such device in the Fortress of Solitude. Would you like me to fetch it?”

“I'd like that very much, Kelex. Thank you.”

Then, as he flew off to do as she had asked, she accessed the Fortress' database and pulled up every bit of information there was about her pod.

She was halfway through memorising what she needed to know when the robot returned with a dark blue cube the size of her palm. “Here is the device you requested, Kara Zor-El. Will that be all?”

“Actually...” she trailed off as her gaze darted between him and the information she was reading on the holographic display, “there's one more thing I'd like you to get for me if you don't mind...”

* * *

Even with superspeed at her disposal, Kara still only barely managed to reach the warehouse that the DEO had chosen to turn into their Hellgrammite trap in time.

“I was beginning to think that you'd decided not to show up,” Henshaw said in lieu of a greeting when she landed in front of him and the group of agents he had been talking to... which naturally included Alex.

_Don't let him get to you, Kara. You have a mission tonight and if you want to succeed, you can't afford to be distracted or get yourself banned from this mission._ “I was getting ready and things took longer than I expected,” she answered tersely.

“Kara.” Breaking away from her fellow agents and apparently uncaring of what Henshaw might say, Alex approached with an expression on her face that could only be described as unmitigated concern. “You shouldn't be here.”

“And _you_ should?” Kara shot back, her frustration over everything but most of all the currently strained nature of her relationship with her adoptive sister spilling out despite herself. “At least _I_ have powers, Alex. _And_ unlike you, I have some idea of what we're going up against here. It's true that I want to make sure the Hellgrammite doesn't get killed but I'm here to make sure it doesn't kill anyone too. _Especially not you_,” she stressed.

“I've been trained for situations like this, Kara.” Just as expected, Alex refused to back down. “I know how to handle dangerous aliens. You may have powers but you have _no_ idea how to use them in a fight. All you're going to accomplish if you insist on getting involved any more than this is get yourself killed _and if you think I'm going to let that happen-_”

“_Enough._” Both sisters instantly fell silent and turned to face Henshaw who looked far from pleased at their behaviour. “Any more from either of you and you'll both be forced to leave. Do I make myself clear?”

“...Yes, sir,” Alex replied through gritted teeth and went to rejoin her team while Kara remained silent and unmoving.

“Thank you for remembering why you're here, Agent Danvers. All of you, get into position.” He turned his attention to Kara. “As for you-”

“Glorified bench-warmer. I know,” Kara snapped, her fists curling at her sides. “So point me to the bench.”

Not a single muscle on his face so much as twitched as he pointed at another warehouse a comfortable distance away. “Wait there. If you're needed, I'll signal for you. Don't interfere otherwise.”

A few choice words under her breath was all she allowed herself as she grudgingly did as she had been ordered and flew to the roof of the designated building. Her body practically vibrating with pent-up nervous energy, she hugged herself tightly as she periodically used her X-ray vision and enhanced hearing to keep herself up to date on what was going on in the other warehouse.

It was probably a good thing that she had been so focused on catching any sign of impending trouble because she wasn't sure she would have heard the whistling before it was too late.

Her instincts screamed at her to _MOVE_ and she obeyed blindly, turning sharply on her heels and taking a step backwards-

-just in time to see a now familiar spike fly right through the space where her head had been a split second ago.

Retracing its trajectory, she naturally found a fully grown Hellgrammite – a male, judging by the dark circular markings on its head – charging at her from the other side of the roof, having clearly decided to engage her directly after having failed to eliminate her with his surprise attack.

She didn't even get to finish thinking of an appropriate curse word before her vision was filled with giant red compound eyes and unnervingly sharp pincers. There was only enough time to raise her arms in a weak attempt to shield herself before she was slammed clean off the roof with enough force to knock the air out of her lungs.

There was a brief moment of dissonant serenity as the weightlessness brought about by them free falling enveloped her. Then whatever breath she had managed to draw just before they hit the ground several floors below escaped her mouth in a pained wheeze.

Above her, the Hellgrammite screeched so loudly that she nearly let go of the claws attempting to tear her face off so that she could cover her ears to protect them from the noise. Only her training kept her from giving in to that instinct although it did not stop her from crying out in anguish at the sonic attack. If she survived the night, a small detached voice at the back of her head pointed out, she was going to need to look into making a smaller version of Bruce's sound dampeners.

_Focus. The high-tech earplugs can wait._ Pushing as hard as she could, she created enough space between herself and her attacker so that she could kick him away from her. He went flying with another deafening screech, and she took the opportunity to get to her feet and study the Hellgrammite.

Based on past behaviour, encountering a disruption of any kind in his quest to feed himself would prompt him to flee.

Instead, he screeched at her again and shot another poisoned spike at her that she managed to dodge once again.

That was when she realised her mistake.

He hadn't come for the DDT.

He had come for _her_.

To say that she had been expecting this would be an outright lie.

But as with the sound dampeners, there would be time to puzzle over this later when her life wasn't in immediate danger. Besides, she had already prepared herself for a fight to some extent considering the fact that she had never expected the Hellgrammite to be cooperative without some... _encouragement_. Being the intended target instead of just an obstacle to a meal just meant that she had to be more careful.

Ducking another deadly projectile, she took the initiative this time and closed the distance between them so that she could land several solid blows to his chest. Knowing what she knew and having fought his kind several times before in her training sessions, she was all too aware that her super-strength would not give her much of an advantage. Unlike most species in the universe, Hellgrammites' joints were far from weak points that could be easily exploited so the best way to defeat one without killing it outright was wear it down.

As her less than stellar training record would attest, that was easier said than done... and the fact that her enhanced hearing was turning out to be a handicap only complicated things.

But Kara refused to give up.

She was going to bring him in alive and as unharmed as possible even if she got hurt in the process.

The concept of time blurred as she weaved in and out of the Hellgrammite's space, landing targeted strikes when she could and dancing away when its claws and pincers came too close for comfort. In such close quarters, she didn't have to worry about any poisonous spikes which was ideal since she wasn't sure whether her invulnerability could stand up to that particular attack. More than once, however, she found herself falling for a feint and only narrowly managing to avoid having her throat sliced to ribbons.

Despite it all, her opponent began visibly weakening ever so slowly and both his attacks and movements in general became progressively sluggish. She was doing little better herself, exhaustion and one too many sonic attacks having worn her down even with her regenerative abilities giving her an edge in terms of endurance. The state of her supersuit bore testament to this, sporting one clean cut for every time she had almost been too slow to avoid a deadly swipe. Winn was probably going to cry when he found out, she was sure of it.

One last powerful punch to the Hellgrammite's face finally did it, and when he slammed to the ground with a weak cry this time he didn't immediately get back up again.

This was it. This was the moment to do she had hoped to do when she had first hatched this audacious plan of hers; the fact that she'd had to fight to create the opportunity was inconsequential in the grand scheme of things.

Now all that was left to do was go through with it and hope that things turned out for the best.

Rao must have decided to be a little merciful today because her recorder which she had tucked away in her right pocket had managed to survive the fall and ensuing battle. Sending another prayer to the god for just a little more mercy, she pulled the device out, searched for the audio file she was looking for and pressed 'play'.

A series of clicks and soft screeches emanated from the recorder's speakers, and the Hellgrammite perked up at the sound of his own language.

“I don't want to hurt you.” That was the first message she had fed into the translator and recorded the results in her apartment a mere hour ago, and when its intended recipient continued looking at her with interest she decided to push her luck and played the rest of the file. “I know you just want food and I can give that to you. But you can't hurt anyone any more and I need you to follow me. Everything will be all right if you do that.”

He naturally responded in clicks and screeches, but without the translator on hand she could only guess at what he might be saying. Judging by the lack of hostility in his tone and body language, however, she thought it was safe to assume that he was in a cooperative state of mind. Breathing a sigh of relief, she gave him a reassuring smile – a pointless gesture considering facial expressions were not exactly part of Hellgrammite culture but she wanted to do it all the same – and tucked the recorder back into her pocket before gesturing for him to get up and follow her.

Unsurprisingly, every single DEO agent present pointed their guns at her and her companion the moment they were close enough.

“_Kara!_” While her colleagues remained where they stood, Alex rushed forward with an expression of open panic on her face. “Get away from that thing right now!”

“Stop!” It was a little futile considering their size difference but she threw her arms out and attempted to shield the Hellgrammite with her body as much as possible. “Don't shoot! He's not going to hurt anyone so lower your guns!”

“And how would you know that?” Henshaw asked her with a piercing gaze.

“I talked to him,” Kara said simply, deciding that going into detail wasn't worth the effort.

If Alex's eyes got any wider, they were liable to pop out of their sockets. “_You WHAT?_”

Okay, so apparently going into detail was unavoidable. “I used a device to translate an assurance that I understood his circumstances and would give him what he wanted if he came peacefully. Once I let him listen to it he decided to cooperate so he's not going to be a threat to any of you unless you give him reason to be otherwise.”

“Then how exactly did you get those injuries?” Alex pressed, her tone suspicious.

Kara winced but stood her ground. “He attacked me at first, yes, but as you can see he's no longer being hostile. There's nothing to worry about. If you'll let me fetch the translator I have, I'll be able to convince him to continue cooperating with you and ask him any questions you might have for him.”

“Or you could just hand over this device of yours and let us take over from here,” Henshaw replied in a way that implied he wasn't actually making a suggestion.

“And let you have yet another thing that's mine and won't give back?” she scoffed. “Not a chance. I'll bring it with me to the DEO but the translator doesn't leave my possession for even a microsecond.”

A tense stand-off ensued where the only one who made any sound or movement was the understandably oblivious Hellgrammite but surprisingly it was Henshaw who caved first. “Very well.” With one simple gesture, he signalled for his agents to stand down and begin packing. “We'll be bringing your new friend with us but if you insist on your suggested course of action, I'd advise you to fetch that translator as quickly as you can.”

“I don't need you to tell me that,” she snapped but softened her voice when she turned to the Hellgrammite who was still eyeing her with open curiosity, his head tilted slightly to the side. It was like he was a puppy. A very large, very deadly and very ugly puppy, but still. “I'll be back soon,” she told him encouragingly, knowing he couldn't understand what she was saying but hoping he could read her tone. “Please... for your own sake, don't cause any trouble.”

He clicked and cooed, which was new, but seemed to get the message because when she glanced back as she was flying away, there was no sign of him trying to flee or maim any of the DEO agents approaching him. Even so, she wasted no time getting to her apartment and grabbing the translator before flying right back, returning just in time to accompany the transport vehicle the DEO had hustled the Hellgrammite into back to their base. The brief pause granted to her courtesy of them processing their new prisoner gave her just enough time to calm herself and establish her connection to Mon-El before she walked into the interrogation room.

“Tell it to cooperate completely from here on out if it knows what's good for it,” Henshaw told her flatly.

“Stop calling him an 'it',” Kara snapped as she set the translator down on the table that had been prepared for her. At least Alex had been ordered to do Rao knew what else; that meant one less distrustful person unnecessarily watching her like a hawk and making unwanted commentary. “And he's already cooperating. Do you seriously need reassurance every five seconds or something?” The translator hummed as she powered it up, and she took advantage of the distraction to focus on the task at hand. “What's your name?” she asked in Kryptonian and waited for the device to churn out the desired translation.

“Krrrkxx,” came the reply.

...Well, she wasn't ever going to be able to pronounce _that_. “All right, uh, moving on. My name is Kara Zor-El.”

“Krrrzrrrl?”

Okay, so this name pronunciation problem was going to be a two-way street. That made her feel just a little less guilty. “Is there a specific reason why you chose to come here to look for food?”

Krrrkxx tilted his head questioningly. “Reason? Food is reason. Krrrkxx only follow smell of food.”

Just as she had suspected. But now came the difficult questions. “Then why did you attack me just now instead of going after the food?”

Whatever answer she had been expecting, it had certainly not been the one that she received next. “Fleshling tell Krrrkxx fleshling will give Krrrkxx lots of food if Krrrkxx kill Krrrzrrrl.”

So another Fort Rozz escapee had somehow found a way to communicate with Krrrkxx and tried to use him to do their dirty work. Somehow that didn't surprise her at all. “What was this person's name?”

“Fleshling not give name. Fleshling only tell Krrrkxx where to find Krrrzrrrl.” A short moment of untranslatable clicking followed that sounded almost contemplative. “Krrrkxx only know fleshling smell like Krrrzrrrl.”

She stared, stunned speechless. (Out of her field of vision and therefore beyond her notice, Henshaw stiffened.) “W-What...?”

A Hellgrammite's sense of smell was comparable to or possibly even better than that of a Hozz'n. There was almost no way to trick them when it came to identifying scents even if they had no concept of who or what they were smelling. In short, there was only one conclusion to be made:

The one who had sent Krrrkxx after her was another Kryptonian.

Her first thought was Zod but she dismissed the possibility almost instantly; the former general's vendetta was aimed at Kal-El and even if he had decided to target her as a way to get at her cousin, he was the type who preferred to wage into battle himself instead of send an assassin. That meant that another Kryptonian had also been sentenced to Fort Rozz... but who?

“Can you tell me how you ended up on this planet? Where were you before you were captured and why were you sent to Fort Rozz?” she asked next, hoping that the information would give her an idea of the identity of this Kryptonian.

Unfortunately, Krrrkxx's response this time was less enlightening and only created more questions. “Krrrkxx was hunting when Krrrkxx got captured. Krrrkxx woke up in dark cold place. Krrrkxx not like place. So Krrrkxx escape. Fleshlings stop Krrrkxx and capture Krrrkxx again. Say Krrrkxx do things Krrrkxx not understand. Then fleshlings put Krrrkxx in different dark cold place. Krrrkxx not know how long Krrrkxx there. Then shaking. Then light come into dark cold place. So Krrrkxx escape again.”

“That's enough questions.” Henshaw's booming voice snapped Kara out of her turbulent thoughts and reminded her of where she was and what she had been doing. “Deliver my message and get out of here, Kryptonian. Some of us have better things to do than babysit a couple of dangerous aliens.”

The caustic reply she had meant to fire back fled her mind when she heard more clicking and turned back to face Krrrkxx as she reactivated the translator. “Sorry, could you say that again?”

“Krrrzrrrl said Krrrzrrrl will give Krrrkxx food. After food Krrrkxx can go?” the Hellgrammite asked innocently.

Her heart sank. “...I'm sorry but no. You killed someone when you were trying to get food yesterday. They can't let you leave.”

Krrrkxx tilted his head again. “Krrrkxx wanted food. Fleshling try to stop Krrrkxx from feeding. Krrrkxx only did what Krrrkxx must do to survive.”

“I know. I'm sorry, but that's how it has to be.” All too aware of how delicate the situation was and the fact that she had an unfriendly audience, she tried to find the most acceptable outcome for everyone. “If you stay here and don't hurt anyone or try to escape, you'll never have to worry about going hungry again. I'll make sure of it.”

Silence ensued as Krrrkxx contemplated her words, and it stretched on for a while until he finally responded. “If Krrrkxx have food, Krrrkxx will stay. Krrrkxx only not want to go hungry.”

“Thank you.” Letting out a barely perceptible sigh of relief, she turned her attention to Henshaw who was still studying her with an unreadable look on his face. “He's agreed not to cause any trouble as long as you give him enough to eat. Do I have your word you'll do just that?”

“I'm not the monster you think I am, Kryptonian,” Henshaw replied stonily. “Your new friend will get fed. Now if you're quite done making demands-”

“One- No, two more things,” she dared to cut him off, emboldened by the injustice of it all. That Plastino Chemicals security guard had just been doing his job while Krrrkxx had just been trying not to starve. Maybe she was a little biased but all she could see in this situation was victims. If there was someone who could be blamed for everything, it would be whoever had kidnapped Krrrkxx from his home planet and caused him to be captured by Krypton's Military Guild in the first place. “That alien you stopped from killing me years ago. I want to know what happened to him.”

His face might as well have been carved from mattelar stone. “...He died as a result of some malfunction in his cybernetic implants as we were transporting him back to base. There was nothing we could do.”

It took a great deal of effort to keep herself from overtly expressing her despair at the revelation. “I... I see...”

“And?” he pressed, clearly uncaring of her current state of mind. “What other unreasonable demand do you have?”

Somehow, his heartless demeanour was what she needed to regain her focus and remember the other part of her plan. “I want my pod back.”

“No.” His answer was both immediate and expected.

“Fine.” It had been a long shot but she hadn't actually believed it would work and that had just been a feint of sorts anyway. “Then I want to at least check it and make sure you haven't damaged it somehow.”

For one long and tense moment, it looked like he would reject this request as well... but then he nodded ever so slightly and gestured towards the door. “Make it quick and then leave. You've wasted enough of my time as it is.”

Only the need to not jeopardise this miraculous opportunity stopped her from responding in any way except to grab the translator, stalk past him and make a beeline for her pod. As she got closer, she surreptitiously pulled out the second item she had taken from the Fortress of Solitude from her other pocket with her free hand. What she was going to attempt was beyond risky, she knew, but it was quite possibly the only chance she had in the foreseeable future to get what she wanted.

Aware that more than one pair of eyes were watching her every move, she activated her pod's systems and disguised the act of slotting the data crystal in her hand into the port she had opened as a casual sweep of the dashboard to check for external damage.

What followed was the longest one minute of her life as she pretended to inspect the system while every bit of data in it was downloaded into the crystal. She only allowed herself to breathe again when the process was done and she had shut the pod back down, removed the crystal and tucked it back into her pocket with the same amount of subtlety she had used to plant it in the first place.

Now to get out before anyone started getting overly suspicious and demanded she be searched.

“Kara.”

Her heart stopped at the sound of her name, but when Kara's brain finally registered the voice that had spoken it she relaxed just a little. “Alex,” she responded neutrally as she turned to face her adoptive sister.

Unlike all their past recent interactions, Alex didn't look like she was about to go into a long angry rant about how she thought Kara was making the biggest mistake of her life. Not immediately anyway, at least. “...You could've gotten killed today.”

“As could you,” Kara replied evenly, hoping against hope that if she maintained her composure and did her best to be diplomatic, this conversation would turn out much more favourably compared to those that had preceded it. “Alex, I know you're worried about my safety but I'm worried about yours too. How can you expect me to just sit on the sidelines and pretend everything's fine while you're out there hunting down aliens who could kill you in a heartbeat? Don't you think that's just a little unfair? I have all these powers and the knowledge of what's out there; if I can't protect people – protect _you_ – with them, then what's the point?”

Guilt flashed across Alex's face and she shifted her weight from one foot to the other. “I'm the big sister here, you know. Mom and Dad told me to take care of you and I know I didn't exactly live up to that responsibility at the start but I'm damn sure going to do it now in every way I can.”

“We're not kids any more, Alex, and what we're dealing with here is a lot more dangerous than the average high school bully. You're with the DEO and I'm...” Kara gestured at herself, “well, you know. There's obviously no changing either of those things for like a hundred reasons so why can't we just... make peace with it and work together so both of us don't have to worry so much about each other?”

The multitude of emotions clearly tormenting Alex on the inside made it impossible to tell where her head was at, but finally resignation won out and her shoulders sagged just a touch. “There's really no way I can make you give that up?” she asked as she gestured at Kara's supersuit.

“Is there any chance I can make you give _that_ up?” Kara shot back without venom as she gestured at Alex's DEO uniform.

“Touché.”

Nothing else was said for a while, but this time the silence was significantly less tense than the past recent instances.

“I can't promise I won't still get mad at you every now and then,” Alex finally said. “Especially if I think you're doing something insanely dangerous.”

Kara allowed herself a small wry smile. “You wouldn't be you otherwise. But I promise I won't take any unnecessary risks if that helps.” Mon-El had already extracted such a promise from her, after all; it only seemed fair to give Alex the same reassurance.

“I guess that's the best we can get out of each other for now,” Alex sighed in a way that made it clear a part of her still didn't agree with all this but was holding back for the sake of maintaining this newly restored peace between them.

Considering everything, Kara could understand her adoptive sister's feelings completely. “I guess so.”

Alex let out another resigned sigh and gestured for Kara to follow her. “Come on then. I'll escort you out.” There was a brief pause and suddenly the corners of her lips twitched. “Supergirl.”

A loud groan escaped Kara as she hung her head. “Don't start.”

“I think it's cute.”

“Well I don't.”

“Another thing for us to agree to disagree on then.” Then Alex's expression changed from teasing to curious. “I've been wondering though... How did you manage to beat that Hellgrammite? I mean, the way you were talking about it earlier, it sounded like a killing machine.”

Panic seized Kara momentarily, and it took a pulse of reassurance from Mon-El who she was sure had gotten very concerned about her sudden change in mood to get herself back under control. “I got lucky, I guess.”

Alex frowned, a hint of suspicion lingering in her eyes, but apparently decided not to jeopardise things between them so soon after they'd patched things up. “If you say so.”

Grife. It had all been forgotten in the heat of the battle but Kara only now remembered that she was supposed to be pretending that she didn't have any combat experience. If she wanted to keep the truth behind her fighting skills hidden, she was going to have to come up with a plausible excuse like a training space of some kind here in the real world.

Even with this new problem weighing on her mind, however, she left the DEO base feeling better about her overall situation than she had for quite some time. She was doing a decent enough job balancing her work and superhero duties, the DEO seemed to not be as hellish a place as she used to perceive it (although Henshaw was still a jackass of the highest order), her relationship with Alex was finally on the mend, she'd saved the life of an alien whose only real crime had been to allow himself to be used by people with clearly sinister goals... and, thanks to the data crystal tucked safely in her pocket, she was one step closer to rescuing Mon-El.

Maybe – just maybe – things were starting to finally look up for her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, a lot happened there and I hope it wasn't too overwhelming for all of you. Everyone's schemes are starting to gain traction and get tangled with one another for better or worse so things are definitely going to get more complicated for each and every one of them whether they like it or not. Some outcomes you can probably already guess but as for the others... we'll see, won't we?
> 
> Season 1 Rant(?) of the Chapter:  
One of the weirdest writing decisions of the first season to me will always be the "idea" that Superman was the only alien who'd (knowingly) arrived on Earth and he remained the only one until Kara and Fort Rozz came along. Even weirder was the whole "there's no such thing as aliens" thing they floated at the beginning which... um, Superman is a known alien? Therefore the existence of aliens should not be treated as some weird urban legend thing? Adding to that is how this made ALL the other aliens on the show automatically evil by virtue of being prison escapees, creating a very black-and-white situation which just feels too simplistic especially for a show that's supposedly trying to present "progressive views" or whatever it is they call their garbled naive messaging. Thankfully Season 2 fixed this partially albeit with a MASSIVE retcon but... you really can do better, show. Except that would require MUCH better writers and we all know that's NEVER going to happen.


	6. Deceit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oftentimes, the truth and lies are easy enough to tell apart. Sometimes, however, they are one and the same.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Sorry about the massive delay; it was partially because of real life and partially because I got sidetracked by that Valentine's Day fic. If you read that one, you'll know I promised I'd get this chapter out within February so... uh, thank goodness it's a leap year or I would've broken that promise, haha. But I've dallied long enough; here it is and I hope you find it worth the wait!

Humans, Kara decided with no small amount of bitterness, were horribly ungrateful creatures.

They had, at the beginning, been the complete opposite, openly expressing their thankfulness for her help whether it was directly to her face or in the interviews they gave to whichever news crew had shown up to shine the spotlight on her latest heroics.

That, however, slowly but surely changed as time wore on and they became less appreciative of her presence and more expectant – demanding, even – of her help.

This didn't apply to everyone in National City, of course. Kids still looked at her with nothing short of abject awe and cheered as loud as their lungs would allow whenever they so much as spotted her, for one, and the average citizen would thank her with beaming smiles even if all she had done was check in on a situation to see if her help was needed somehow.

Others, on the other hand...

_Those_ people complained about _everything_.

It wasn't even just that small group of naysayers these days, much to her immense irritation; there seemed to be some kind of growing niche market in finding fault with her no matter how hard they had to look for it.

Got a fire under control? She should've arrived at the scene sooner.

Foiled a robbery? The police had it covered and she should've stayed out of it.

Stopped a malfunctioning tram from flying off its rails? It was going to cost thousands of dollars to repair the collateral damage, never mind the fact that she'd only caused a fraction of it.

Needless to say, Maxwell Lord remained one of the top contributors of this particular brand of criticism... but none of that held a candle to the other kind of nonsense she had to deal with.

“What kind of example is she trying to set for children with that outfit?” “The world already has Superman; it doesn't need some try-hard girl pretending she can do even half the things he can. Let's see her fight something on her level before we start calling her a _real_ superhero.” “All that smiling she does all the time... It's fake, I tell you. The truth is she's just looking down on the rest of us because she can do all these things that we can only dream of doing and everyone knows it.”

Considering the fact that most of this sexist vitriol was coming from Fox News, she thought she could be forgiven for entertaining the occasional fantasy where she ripped their entire building out of the ground and hurled it into the sun.

All in all, the whole situation incensed her more than she liked.

Fame and accolades had never been factors when she had made the decision to put on her supersuit. Just as when she had stopped that plane from falling out of the sky months ago – and, if she wanted to go even further, her smaller acts of heroism dating back to when she had still been in Midvale –, all she wanted to do was prevent another catastrophe from happening before her eyes.

Never again.

Of course, Kara was mature and self-aware enough to admit that her motivations weren't entirely benevolent and there was some element of selfishness at play; every life she saved and every calamity she stopped in its tracks was a way of justifying to herself the many blessings in life she enjoyed starting with life itself. She had survived where so many others had perished – her people, Mon-El's people and whoever else might have suffered as a result of Krypton's destruction – and the only way to pay for that sin was to personally make sure the living always outnumbered the dead. For every individual that had met their end before their time, one or more had to thrive and prosper before the scales could even come close to being balanced.

This mindset, more than anything else, was what kept her dedicated to her superhero work no matter what people said about her.

But she would also be lying if she said that she didn't wish her 'critics' would just _shut up_ instead of making it their life's mission to find flaws in everything she did.

At least there was one recent positive change in her life which was that she had managed to find a nice little derelict train yard on the outskirts of the city that she could turn into her (fake) training area.

She reasoned with herself that she was doing it because she needed to make it look like it was actually being used for its stated purpose, but the truth was that right now she really just needed to destroy something permanently.

“It's.” Punch. “Not.” Punch. “Like.” Punch. “I'm.” Punch. “Asking.” Punch. “For.” Punch. “Statues.” Punch. “And.” Punch. “A.” Punch. “_Parade._”

The concrete block that had been the unfortunate victim of her fury finally gave way at the last blow, exploding in a shower of bits and dust that proceeded to litter the floor of the near-empty building. Staring at the mess she had created as her chest heaved with pants borne out of exertion and residual anger, she found herself distantly thinking that there was no way Alex would doubt her now if she saw this place for herself.

“You just want to not get dragged through the mud for everything you do even if you did it as perfectly as possible – and likely for nothing more than the crime of being female. I know that.” Eve's calming words cut through the fog of rage clouding Kara's mind, allowing the Kryptonian to regain some semblance of self-control before she turned to face her best friend. Perched on a fold-out chair she had brought with her and dressed in pastel colours, she stood out like a sore thumb in their surroundings especially when compared to Kara's practical choice of a loose cotton shirt, grey hoodie and matching sweatpants. Then again, Eve wasn't the one pummelling innocent inanimate objects into oblivion so she was free to wear whatever she liked. “Most of the world knows that. The only ones saying otherwise are stupid jerks who aren't worth your time or attention.”

All at once, the last traces of Kara's anger fled her and her shoulders slumped in defeat. “_I know,_” she moaned pathetically as she dragged herself over to a spot near Eve's chair, unceremoniously plopped herself on the ground and pulled her knees up to her chest. “I know, Eve, but-”

“It still bothers you.” A sigh escaped Eve as she reached out to pat Kara's head the way a person would a despondent puppy. “Since it's just the two of us today, allow me to openly ask: What does Mon-El think about all this?”

“That it's stupid and, I quote, 'further proof humans are incredibly primitive' because they didn't have that kind of problem back on Daxam.” Kara shot Eve a guilty look. “I apologise on his behalf.”

Eve waved it off dismissively. “It's fine, I agree with him. And just to be clear, it's perfectly understandable, you have every right to be upset, I feel exactly the same way and absolutely _no one_ should make you feel bad about it. If they so much as _think_ it, I'll rain hell down on their empty skulls, don't you doubt that for a second.”

The fact that she knew Eve was in no way making an empty threat coaxed a small smile out of Kara. “Thanks, Eve.”

“Don't mention it. Personally, I think it's the least I can do considering you're making National City a safer place for all of us.”

“...You know, Winn said something to that effect when I turned down his offer to hack all those people's websites and whatnot to teach them a lesson,” Kara ventured in a tone she hoped came across as innocent and did not at all suggest she might be hinting at something. “I can't help but feel like the two of you have more in common than you're both willing to admit.”

The severe look Eve gave in response made it clear Kara hadn't been as subtle as she'd thought. “Oh, don't you start with that nonsense again, Kara Danvers, or I'll _really_ make you regret it.”

“I just don't understand why the two of you can't seem to get along,” Kara complained, abandoning all pretence in light of her mystified frustration. “Every single time we get together, both of you won't stop trying to pick a fight with each other over the smallest inconsequential things.”

Eve let out an aggrieved noise as she pulled her hand back so that she could cross her arms in front of her chest. “As with past instances, I'm not going to tell you. You're just going to have to figure it out on your own and when you do, you're going to feel like the colossal idiot you actually are right now.”

“That's not very helpful,” Kara sulked as she tilted her head upwards to meet Eve's unrelenting gaze. “If you really wanted me to figure it out-”

“It's called tough love,” Eve cut off Kara's incredibly weak and obvious attempt to wheedle the truth out of her without hesitation. “And at the risk of sounding like a broken record, _get that genius alien brain of yours cracking at the problem and see what's right in front of you before the situation gets worse_.”

“Or you could just tell me and save me the time and effort,” Kara tried to suggest only to shrivel under Eve's withering glare. “Okay, okay, I'll figure it out on my own! Don't look at me like that!”

“Good. I'll hold you to that.” Seemingly satisfied for the moment, Eve relaxed and let her murderous aura dissipate. “Now, on a slightly related note, what's the latest on Operation Rescue Dream Boyfriend? The last time we talked about this, you said you'd managed to get your hands on the data from your pod so... have you made any progress on that since then?”

A confused frown creased Kara's brow – what did saving Mon-El have to do with figuring out why Eve and Winn couldn't get along? – but she decided to focus on the subject matter being discussed instead of asking for clarification. “Not much,” she confessed rather glumly. “I managed to jury-rig my own system so that I can read the data without needing to use the Fortress of Solitude's computer but... that's it. I can't for the life of me figure out what the Coluan did to restart my pod and set it back on its journey to Earth; on the surface, it just looks like my pod did it all on its own.”

“Seriously?” Eve's incredulous surprise was entirely genuine. “How advanced is this alien if even _you_ can't figure it out?”

Something like a wry smile tugged at the corners of Kara's lips. “As nice as it is to hear that you think so highly of me, I have to admit that beating the equivalent of a supercomputer that could put the smartest of my people's Science Guild to shame is way beyond my capabilities. In fact, I'm pretty sure I remember my father mentioning that his Guild had employed a few Coluans to help with some project of theirs which is a big deal because... well... My people kind of had a bit of a... pride problem, I'm ashamed to admit.”

“Good to know our races have something in common besides our appearance then,” Eve replied sardonically before her demeanour turned serious again. “Does this mean you're back to square one?”

Kara shook her head. “Not necessarily. Coluan physiology is such that while they have physical forms like you and me, they can sort of... transform themselves into digital code at will. In this form, they can travel via electronic and digital signals and get into any kind of technology as long as it's connected and not too ancient. If the system they're in isn't designed to detect their presence and react accordingly, they can do whatever they like to it as easily as you and I would... say, pick up a pen and scribble on a book in an unsupervised library. However, Mon-El told me that when they do this, they leave a unique digital signature behind that can be detected as long as you have advanced enough technology or a decent enough setup coupled with a sample for comparison.”

“So either find yourself an alien supercomputer of your own or collect the digital computer alien version of a fingerprint,” Eve summarised. “Tell me again which one is supposed to be easier?”

The dryness of Eve's voice managed to elicit a soft albeit weary laugh from Kara despite the grim reality of the situation. “Neither, unfortunately. I know of exactly one computer that _might_ be powerful enough to track down the Coluan but I'd need more time and effort than I can afford to spare to so much as test my theory. As for the second option, I suppose I could theoretically build something but I'd still need to get my hands on a system that I know for sure the Coluan has tampered with and... Well, needles and haystacks come to mind. In other words, this is going to take a lot more than scrap metal and perseverance. I'm going to need a miracle.”

“Well, you're kind of like a living breathing miracle in your own right so I have complete faith that you'll be able to find a way eventually,” Eve said firmly. “Now you need to believe in yourself too.”

The level of confidence that Eve was displaying bordered on magical thinking but Kara figured there was no harm in letting herself get swept up in the overwhelming positivity. “I'll try. Thanks, Eve.”

“You're welcome.” Eve's smile abruptly vanished when her purse emitted the sound of dogs barking out of the blue, and Kara watched in confusion as her best friend pulled out her phone and began glaring at it. “One of these days, I swear...”

A little intimidated at the murderous aura radiating off Eve, Kara actually thought twice about asking what could have triggered it. “...Um, Eve...? Is everything okay?”

“Just some idiots on the internet,” Eve replied in a clipped tone as she began viciously tapping away at her phone. “Nothing you need to worry about.”

Since that particular phrase was almost always used when there was actually something to worry about, Kara didn't buy it at all and got up to look over Eve's shoulder.

What she saw on the phone's screen boggled her mind.

“'Supergirl Defence Squad'?” she read out loud in disbelief. “Eve, what in the world is this?”

“You're not the only one pissed off about the kind of treatment you've been getting from the fringe media,” Eve explained even as she continued typing a very vicious reply to some random blogger's latest post about how Supergirl was apparently 'everything wrong with feminism', whatever that meant. “And before you ask, no, I didn't set it up.”

Oh Rao. So Eve hadn't just been saying those things earlier to make her feel better; she'd actually _meant_ it. Was she supposed to feel touched or unnerved? Kara couldn't quite decide. “...Eve... Um... As much as I... appreciate?... this, you, uh, really don't have to. Or continue to, I guess? I mean, you know this garbage annoys me – I pretty much just admitted that in _spectacular_ fashion – but you don't have to do stuff like this on my behalf. Or all these other people, for that matter. Like you said, it's best to just let those idiots spew their nonsense all they want than give them the attention they're obviously fishing for.”

That got Eve to stop and turn to look up at Kara with a thunderous expression. “No, I said _you_ shouldn't bother with those numbskulls, not me, _and no, I absolutely will not let this slide._ First off, you're my best friend and I'm not going to sit back and let my best friend get trash-talked without paying it back tenfold. Secondly, you're making National City a better place, Kara, and anyone who has a problem with that due to stupid reasons like you being a woman needs to be told _in no uncertain terms_ that they make rocks look like geniuses. Besides, it's not just dumb sexist crap like this article that we're combating; I'm going to spare you the details but there was a period after your debut where some seriously disturbed guys were saying the grossest things about you online. Most of them mysteriously stopped and deleted all their social media accounts after a while though, thank god, so all we have to deal with now for the most part are the garden variety jackasses.”

A nervous laugh escaped Kara. For some reason, she had a sneaking suspicion she knew the individual – or possibly _two_ individuals – who had been responsible for that.

Mistaking Kara's reaction for a response to the unsurprising revelation that the internet was full of scummy people, Eve continued typing. “Yeah, I know, I wish they'd all just give it a rest too. I mean, it's one thing if they're justifiably criticising you for some major screw-up like accidentally ripping the hull of an oil tanker and indirectly becoming an ecoterrorist but this? This is an attack on all womankind, human _and_ alien, _and we will not stand for it_.”

“...Well,” Kara started lamely after a long while of trying and failing to figure out how to respond to everything Eve had just shared with her, “as long as you don't go overboard, I guess.”

Putting the finishing touches to her post with a dramatic flourish, Eve tapped her phone's screen one more time before turning to face Kara with a wide reassuring smile. “Don't worry, we all know how to control ourselves just fine and that goes double for me.”

* * *

When she looked back at this moment days later, Kara realised that it had been a huge oversight on her part to not clarify what Eve considered 'controlling herself'.

* * *

“This is Leslie Willis, coming to you live and wired from CatCo Plaza.”

The unfortunately familiar opening line blaring from an intact radio somewhere in the rubble set Kara's teeth on edge. _Don't pay attention to it_, she told herself as she continued to carefully sift through the remains of the collapsed shop around her, all the while mindful not to get her supersuit too dirty. After all, she still needed to go back to the office after this and it would be a bad idea for concrete dust to suddenly appear in CatCo without any plausible reason in sight. _There are people who just lost their livelihood who need your help right now. Your focus should be on seeing if there's anything in this mess they can still use or sell so that they'll have an easier time getting back on their feet and nothing else._

Despite her best efforts, however, the voice of National City's most prominent and controversial shock jock wormed deeper into her mind. To this day, she still couldn't figure out what Ms Grant had seen in Leslie that had convinced her to pluck the woman out of obscurity and personally mentor her. All she did was spew hate-filled exaggerations day in and day out about whoever or even whatever had happened to catch her attention or commit the heinous crime of annoying her. How was that something worth promoting – something in line with the kind of journalism Ms Grant had built her company on and continued to stand for – and why did people even _enjoy_ listening to stuff like that?

_Stop it_, she scolded herself as she lifted a fallen beam to get at the handful of still intact computer accessories underneath. _You've never found the answer to that question before this and you never will no matter how hard you try. Just leave it be like every other time you've had the misfortune of hearing one of her broadcasts. It's got nothing to do with you anyway._

Of course, it was in that exact moment that the universe with Leslie's help decided to disabuse Kara of that notion.

“This morning I received some 'fan mail'-” The use of air quotes was implied in the sarcastic way Leslie said that word. “-asking me why it is I can't just be grateful for the things I do have in life. Why, they asked, couldn't I just be happy about something instead of always ranting about things that piss me off? Well, _genius_, whoever and wherever you are, I'll tell you why: _This world sucks._ It sucks _hard_ and you're just deluding yourself into thinking that anything about it is actually worth celebrating. Nothing – I repeat, _nothing_ – about it is worth being grateful for. That counts double when it comes to things that pretend they are... and one _perfect_ example comes to mind: Supergirl.”

Kara froze.

Naturally unaware and probably uncaring that her latest target was listening in, Leslie continued on her nauseating diatribe. “The blue-and-red abscessed tooth in the otherwise gleaming smile that is National City! How I despise – and I mean _loathe_ – her whole 'Look at me, I'm adorkable' thing. And that hideous, like, rejected-from-the-Olympics figure skating outfit she wears? I mean, a skirt and tights? _Puh-lease._”

The people around her had started paying attention to the broadcast by then, and Kara could feel them staring at her. Although she did her best to stay focused and pretend she couldn't hear it or feel their eyes boring holes into her back, she failed to stop herself from being offended on behalf of her friends who had helped her design her supersuit. Winn in particular would likely be ranting by now if he had decided to tune in for whatever reason.

“Seems like overkill, especially since no one is trying to get in there.”

Bits of concrete flew everywhere as the chunk of rubble Kara had been holding got crushed to nothingness when her hand twitched. _Oh, she did NOT just go there_, she seethed internally. Her relationship with Mon-El was as precious as it was a well-kept secret, and hearing some random person who knew next to nothing talk about it even if indirectly – in an insulting manner, no less – got to her in a way she hadn't expected. _There IS someone and he doesn't need to 'try', you insufferable joyless hack!_ she mentally yelled back.

Because she (thankfully) was not telepathically attuned to Kara, Leslie blithely went on. “And even if there _was_ a someone, who would that be anyway? You know, who's hombre enough to puncture the Chastity Belt of Steel? Or is what's required a softer touch? I mean, she _does_ kind of give off a Sapphic vibe with that big ol' butch 'S' chest plate.”

Whispers and even smothered sniggers from the crowd reached Kara's ears, filling her with feelings of rage and embarrassment in equal measure. _That 'someone' would be the crown prince of an entire planet, if you must know, and I bet you're just going on about this because you're not getting laid yourself!_ she imagined calling in to give Leslie the verbal smackdown she deserved. _And for the record, I'm not gay and the 'S' is my family crest! Or are you going to suggest Superman's somehow also a lesbian by your dumb logic?!_

“You know, now that I think about it, how would that even work with an alien? I mean, is everything the same down there, or are we talking tentacles? Maybe it's time for a break. Or a makeover.”

There was no way to measure the amount of humiliation she was feeling, and yet Kara was sure that even if such a method existed her readings would be off the charts by now. To think that she had to just tolerate all this and pretend it wasn't getting to her because reacting in any way would only worsen things... If there was any kind of justice in the world, Leslie would get her long overdue comeuppance in short order.

As if the universe – or in this case a certain someone – had heard her, she got her wish... in a way she neither expected nor wanted.

“Looks like we have a caller,” Leslie suddenly announced. “Let's see what we've got.”

“_YOU HAVE SOME NERVE, YOU BARELY LITERATE HARPY_,” the woman who had called in started in a very loud and incensed voice.

This time, Kara froze for an entirely different reason.

That voice... There was no mistaking that voice.

“It's bad enough when men spout this kind of crap everywhere,” Eve began reaming into Leslie with the combined fury of a thousand hornets' nests, “but it's ten times worse when it comes from another woman. Although considering it's _you_ we're talking about, referring to you as a woman is a disgrace to women the world over.”

There was a very brief moment of silence which suggested Leslie had been taken by surprise at the unexpected attack but then true to form, she recovered and began punching back. “Listen here, you little-”

“No, _you_ listen, you intolerable talentless shrew!” Eve, however, was clearly on a roll and not at all interested in letting her opponent get a word in edgewise. “Supergirl is out there making the world a better place for all of us but _you_? You just blabber on every single day about the stupidest things and acting like you're smarter and better than everyone else because you have all these 'opinions' but the fact of the matter is nothing you say is worth a wad of dried up chewing gum because you have the intellect of a sea cucumber _and you literally work in a basement!_”

The urge to just flee to the other end of the world was overwhelming, especially since the stares directed her way were so intense Kara was almost sure they would develop into heat vision beams... and it only got worse the longer the argument on the radio continued.

“I've seen your picture, you scrawny brainless hag! You're just jealous her breasts are bigger than yours! And since you brought it up, I bet the last time _you_ got laid you had to _pay_ for it!”

Where was the Kryptonite when she needed it?!

* * *

“I still can't believe you did that,” Kara moaned pathetically, her words muffled due to her face being buried in her hands. Not that anyone would've heard her even though it was lunch hour considering they were occupying a relatively private booth in Noonan's. However, the relative silence of her immediate surroundings only made it easier for her to overhear some of the other conversations going on around them... and listening to people talk about Leslie's last Supergirl-focused broadcast a day after it had aired was not helping her mood.

“You're welcome,” Eve replied primly as she sipped her iced lemon tea, clearly not concerned at all with the fact that her best friend was currently being the personification of misery.

“I don't see why Kara should be grateful for what you did,” Winn commented as he eyed Eve critically. “I mean, the expression 'pouring gasoline on the fire' comes to mind since there's no way the stuff you said actually convinced the people who hate Supergirl to change their minds, for one.”

“Oh _please_,” Eve countered crossly and levelled a flat look at Winn. “Those people's minds are never going to be swayed no matter what anyone says; it's pointless to try and that wasn't what I was going for anyway. And don't tell me you weren't pissed off when you heard that witch critiquing the suit. In fact, I bet you _enjoyed_ listening to me tearing her a new one on her own stupid show.”

Winn sputtered, having not expected such a direct attack even though he should have learned his lesson by this point. “W-W-Well, I-I wouldn't say I was 'pissed off' or that I 'enjoyed' your counter-arguments...”

A miserable groan escaped Kara. “_Winn..._”

“I put my heart and soul into that masterpiece, okay?!” Winn couldn't have sounded more defensive if he'd tried. “Imagine if Leonardo da Vinci had to listen to some blind idiot criticising the Mona Lisa! That's how I feel!”

Eve's eyes flashed dangerously. “Excuse me, are you forgetting that _I_ helped design that suit, Mr Genius Solo Artist?”

Sensing that his life was in danger, Winn immediately took evasive action. “I-I wasn't- I-It was just an expression! A-A-And what about all that other stuff you said about K- I mean Supergirl's love life?! Don't you think that was a little unnecessary considering the truth?!”

Kara bit the inside of her cheek to prevent herself from reacting in any way, and Eve exchanged loaded glances with her before she redirected her attention back to Winn. “I'm well aware of the real status of... Supergirl's love life,” she replied smoothly, the true meaning in her words apparent only to Kara, “but I wasn't about to let those comments by Leslie slide.” Then she narrowed her eyes. “Unless of course you're saying that getting back at her for the suit insults is more important than protecting Supergirl's image and by extension the basic right of every girl and woman to not be judged for whether they have a love life or not as well as the nature of that love life if they have one?”

Whether it was Eve's deadly glare or her verbal assault that did the trick was unclear, but either way Winn realised he was not going to win this argument and quickly tried to change the subject. “A-A-Anyway! Leslie actually showed up at Ms Grant's office today and you haven't told me what happened!”

That piqued Eve's curiosity and she abandoned her weakened prey in favour of leaning over her still untouched salad and looming over Kara who was still half-slumped over the table. “Is that so? What did they talk about? And don't pretend you don't know because everyone at this table is fully aware you have super-hearing.”

“I call it enhanced hearing,” Kara corrected Eve automatically only to cower when Eve's interested expression sharpened into a frightening glare that promised retribution if she kept stalling. “'Alive and Wired with Leslie Willis' is officially off the air permanently.”

Instead of being pacified, Eve became more visibly interested, and even Winn leaned in with an eager look on his face. “Okay, there's no way you can just leave it at that. Details, please, and from the beginning.”

Kara got the sense that her friends were a little too fascinated in this topic for her liking – Eve in particular, although that was hardly a surprise – but it felt like it was in her best interest to share her story. Besides, she would be lying if she said she hadn't enjoyed every second of it and wouldn't mind recounting it. “Well, apparently Ms Grant warned Leslie before this not to target Supergirl so she wasn't very happy about yesterday's broadcast on principle but she _really_ wasn't happy about her-” She paused to take a breath and do her best impression of Ms Grant. “-'going after a young girl and insulting her body, how she dresses, her sexuality'...” The memory of Leslie's 'correction' of “lack of sexuality” surfaced and she let herself indulge in the fantasy of dumping a barrel of itching powder on the shock jock.

“Good,” Eve huffed in dark satisfaction. “What happened next?”

“Well, long story short, Ms Grant said that letting Leslie go after her 'creation' would disrupt her attempts to build her own version of what the Daily Planet has with Superman and no one wanted Leslie's brand of negativity any more. When Leslie tried to argue back, Ms Grant retaliated by making Leslie 'National City's highest paid traffic reporter'. In fact, I'm pretty sure Leslie's in a CatCopter this very second covering the eternal slow crawl on Morgan Road.”

Winn let out a hoot of laughter and pumped his fist in the air. “All right! Now _that's_ what I call justice!” Then he caught himself and offered Kara an apologetic and sheepish smile. “Not that what you do everyday isn't justice, of course, but... you know.”

Before Kara could react to that, however, Eve spoke up and immediately made it clear she did not share his sentiments. “Of _course_ you'd think that was punishment enough. _I_ think she got off too lightly.”

“Oh come on, what were you expecting?” Winn complained, a little irked that Eve wanted to fight about this as well. “She's probably on contract and Ms Grant would never buy her out so this is the best outcome we're going to get.”

Naturally, Eve found that far from satisfying. “I'll only accept divine retribution and nothing less.” A thought occurred to her and she positively lit up. “What do you think are the odds of her getting struck by lightning when there's a really bad storm while she's on night duty?”

Kara stared, completely gobsmacked, as did Winn although he went the extra mile by trying to discreetly scoot away from Eve. “Um, Eve... You _do_ realise that if something like that _did_ happen, I'd be obligated to try and save her life, don't you?”

It had been Kara's hope that pointing this out would bring Eve to her senses, but instead the borderline demented gleam in her eyes only became even more pronounced. “Even better! Then she'd have to live out the rest of her miserable life knowing that she owes every single second of it to you! Can you imagine a worse kind of torture for someone like that?”

It was in that moment that Kara began truly wondering if she was staring at her very own Lex Luthor in the making, and after an agonisingly long period of silence she decided she was better off pretending the last five minutes had never happened. “Anyway, hopefully that means everything's settled for good at least on the CatCo side and there won't be any other unexpected surprises from that corner of the media.”

* * *

Because the universe seemed to derive some kind of sadistic pleasure in making her suffer, Kara did not get her wish.

A sixth sense honed by over two years of working at CatCo told her that trouble was imminent when Ms Grant called for an impromptu content meeting but nothing could have prepared her for this.

“I believe I don't have to tell you that since her debut, Supergirl has been providing us with a reasonably steady source of standard superhero material to work with,” Ms Grant began as she stalked around in her office. “Business, as I'm sure you all know as my heads of department, is going well. _But._” She stopped and pinned everyone in the room with her gaze. “It has also come to my attention that some parties have been not only either misinterpreting the facts or making up whatever they like _but also making money off it_.”

The snort threatening to escape her was barely suppressed in time, but Kara kept her head down and continued pretending to take notes all the same. Of course. To think that she had actually allowed herself to take Ms Grant's speech to Leslie about how Supergirl was 'changing the conversation of National City' and 'a representation of optimism, hope and positivity' at face value... She really should have known better.

“_I_ branded her,” Ms Grant continued, an edge in her voice which suggested she was very close to breathing fire – possibly literally. “That means 'Supergirl' belongs to _me_. What these trash-mongers are doing is tantamount to libel and nothing would give me greater pleasure than to sue them all into the next century for it. Unfortunately, my lawyers say that isn't an option – apparently it _is_ if I found a way to legally adopt her and I would if I could but it seems that isn't an option either.”

_Thank Rao_, Kara thought to herself as she suppressed the shudder that had run through her body at that mental image.

“So.” The decisiveness in Ms Grant's voice pulled Kara back to reality. “It is up to _us_ to fix this. It is up to _us_ to take control of Supergirl's narrative and save her image – by which I mean the brand _I_ created – from being rendered worthless by two-bit so-called 'journalists' like those disgraces at Fox News _and_ scoop everyone else especially the Daily Planet at the same time. And I have of course come up with the perfect solution that will be the first step to achieving this.” She paused for effect. “I want an interview.”

Kara blanched.

Fortunately, Ms Grant did not notice Kara's reaction although that was mostly because she had zeroed in on someone else standing in her office. “James.” Anyone who had ever spent even five minutes with her knew that tone and how it never meant anything good for them. “Perhaps your friend in blue would be useful in arranging a sit down? Maybe you could broach the subject the next time you... '_bro hang_' or whatever you people call it these days.”

James gaped like a landed fish, and Kara secretly allowed herself to enjoy watching him stripped of the irritating 'cool' persona he loved to project all the time. “It, uh... doesn't really work that way, Ms Grant.”

Ms Grant narrowed her eyes and hummed, which in Cat Grant language meant that she hadn't liked what she had heard and thus was going to ignore it. “Let me remind you that everyone – yes, even your dear old friends at the Daily Planet – are probably working day and night trying to get this exclusive first. But Supergirl is _my_ creation. That means the one who should get that exclusive – the only one who has the right – is _me_. So don't give me excuses and get it done. I want a sit down with Supergirl and I want it by... let's see... the end of the week.” She turned away and waved her hand dismissively. “That's all. Everyone go do your jobs or you won't have them for very long.”

“Kara.”

The brief moment of relief Kara had felt upon successfully escaping Ms Grant's office without incident died a swift death at the sound of James calling her name. Steeling herself, she turned around and faced him, all the while reminding herself like always that she couldn't just cart him back to Metropolis no matter how much she wanted to do it. “What do you want, James?”

He looked at her as if he couldn't understand why she would even ask him that question. “You were in that meeting too. You heard what Ms Grant wants.”

Maybe it was a little mean, but she decided she owed it to herself to take this opportunity to make him squirm. “And what does that have to do with me?”

Frustration creased his brow. “You know the answer to that. In fact, I'd even go so far as to say this involves you more than me so we should-”

“No,” she cut him off flatly. “There is no 'we' in this. 'Supergirl' doesn't have to do that interview. In fact, 'she' doesn't have to do anything 'she' doesn't want to do.”

Judging by the tenseness in his shoulders, his mood was rapidly deteriorating... and she had to admit she was enjoying riling him up a little too much. (She blamed Mon-El.) “Come on, Kara. You heard her; I have to give her something within the next couple of days or I might be in serious trouble.”

“That's your problem, not mine,” she told him curtly. “Perhaps you could take Ms Grant's advice and ask 'your friend in blue' for help? Although considering he and Supergirl don't seem to speak to one another, I can't imagine how much assistance _he_ can provide you. But as I said, it's none of my concern. Now if you'll excuse me, I have work to do and it definitely doesn't involve Supergirl.” Without letting him say another word, she turned on her heels and walked off.

* * *

Despite what she had said to James, Kara knew that this interview that Ms Grant wanted was something that practically demanded her serious attention. Controlling what the world knew about Supergirl and consequently ensuring that nothing led back to the DEO had been one of the conditions she herself had set with Henshaw when she had negotiated for her life and freedom. This was a golden opportunity that solved the problem of how she was supposed to get an interview without risking her identity as Kara Danvers and she would be a fool to waste it. Then there was the fact that according to Winn, the conspiracy theories about Supergirl's existence floating around on the internet were starting to increase in number... and some of them sounded too dangerously close to the truth for her liking.

In other words, she had delayed this for long enough.

Eve and Winn offered their tentative support for this course of action, whatever that was worth, but Alex vehemently opposed it.

“You don't have to do it just because you made a promise to that bastard in the heat of the moment,” Alex all but scolded when Kara called her for advice. “He hasn't said or done anything to indicate he even cares about that at all so I don't see why you should either.”

Kara resisted the urge to sigh into the phone. Alex in 'big sister' mode was about as easy to deal with as a fully-grown tazvil looking for a mate. “It's not just because I made a promise to him, Alex. I'm already worried enough that someone is going to figure out Supergirl and Kara Danvers are the same person and target you and everyone else in my life because of it. Making sure there's nothing connecting Supergirl and the DEO also means there's one less way for people to connect Supergirl to _you_.”

“I can handle my side of this, Kara. You don't have to worry about me.”

“It's still better to be safe than sorry. Your life is already in enough danger every time you get sent out to chase down a rogue alien; if human criminals found out about you and went after you to use you as leverage against me, I'd never be able to forgive myself.”

“...You've already made up your mind about this, haven't you.”

“More like my mind was made up for me but yes.”

Silence. “...I'm still not comfortable with this.”

“I know. And I'm not asking you to be. I just... wanted to give you a heads up so you don't get blind-sided.”

“Thanks, I guess.” A sigh crackled through the line. “Promise you'll be careful? I mean, this is Cat Grant we're talking about, after all.”

In spite of everything, a wry smile managed to work its way onto Kara's face. “I don't think I need you to warn me about my own boss, Alex. But yes, I promise. I'll take every precaution I can.” Which meant asking a certain someone for help, but there was no way to tell Alex that without opening a can of worms she wasn't prepared to deal with.

* * *

“You're actually going to let yourself get interrogated by Ms Grant? The boss you sort of hate and admire at the same time?”

Mon-El couldn't look more disbelieving if he'd tried, and Kara found she couldn't really hold it against him. “It's an interview, not an interrogation... but I admit that they're pretty much the same thing if Ms Grant is involved.”

The look he gave her was the very definition of 'See?' but it was replaced by one of seriousness before she could decide whether to throw a pillow at him or not. “All right then. I get why you feel you need to do this so what can I do to help?”

“Well...” she hedged. When the idea had first come to her, she had seized upon it without a second thought but now that she had to broach it to him... “I got the sense that you were kind of taught how to deal with people like Ms Grant – I mean, based on what you've told me about Daxam's royal court anyway – so I thought you might have some tips you could share with me.”

A million emotions flashed across his face as he stared silently and unblinkingly at her, but before she could apologise for unintentionally bringing up unpleasant memories he spoke up. “...I... may know something that could help...”

Even though that was exactly what she had hoped to hear, the hesitant way he had said it made her curious... and a little wary. “Was it something Bal-Seg taught you?”

Mon-El knew that he was tempting disaster by answering her honestly but he also knew that things would only get worse if he tried to keep it from her. Better to confess the truth now and get it over with. “...Actually... it was my mother.”

Kara reacted almost exactly how he had imagined she would, and yet the way her eyes widened almost comically and her expression turned from stunned surprise to thunderous rage was still a sight to behold. “_No_,” she practically snarled. “_Absolutely not. I refuse._”

“Kara, please-” he tried to reason with her.

“_I want NOTHING to do with your mother, you hear me?_” By this point, she had crossed her arms in front of her chest and was glaring at him with unparalleled ferocity. “_ABSOLUTELY NOTHING._”

Seized by a temporary lapse in sanity, he somehow decided that trying to joke about the situation would help improve matters. “You know, technically speaking, being with me means you already have at least one thing to do with her.”

If looks could kill, he was sure that his physical body floating in the Well of Stars would have turned into a dessicated corpse in the blink of an eye. “_ARE YOU TRYING TO MAKE ME CUT TIES WITH YOU?!_”

...Perhaps a strategic retreat for the moment was the sensible thing to do. “...No...?”

She leaned forward to jab him in the chest with her finger, and he had to stop himself from flinching. “_Then._” Another jab. “_Shut._” And another. “_Up._”

Uncomfortable silence reigned as she fumed and pointedly ignored him while he struggled to figure out how best to proceed.

Eventually, however, he realised there was no other way forward and prepared himself for a conversation that promised to be difficult on more than one level. “...Kara, if Ms Grant really is anything like my mother, then the best way to deal with her is to use the tactics my mother would use because that will be the last thing she expects. And considering we both know you're practically incapable of lying convincingly, you're going to have a hard time preventing her from connecting any dots you don't want her to if you don't prepare accordingly.”

Another stretch of silence ensued – she wouldn't even look at him – but just as he was about to consider a different approach, she let out a discontented grumble. “...Fine.”

The victory, small as it was, did not give him even the slightest bit of satisfaction. There were many things he wished he had never needed to teach her but this... this would probably be the one he would regret the most. “...Before we start, I just want to say I'm sorry.”

That got her attention. “What for?” she asked cautiously.

Because there was no easy way around it, he decided to be blunt. “Do you remember the things I said to you when I was trying to make you leave?”

For a brief blissful moment, Kara had no idea what he was talking about... and then the bitter memory she had suppressed with time and effort returned along with all the pain associated with it. “...Yes.”

The grief in Mon-El's eyes which had turned grey told her that he too was reliving that distant event along with her. “I'm-”

“Stop.” She reached out to grasp his hand and sent soothing thoughts his way the moment their connection was established. “We've said enough apologies to each other over that day to last the rest of our lives. There's no need to say any more. Okay?”

His melancholic gaze and the subdued state of the blue-grey energy in her head suggested he didn't quite share her perspective but he nodded slowly. “...Okay.”

It was the best she could get out of him for now so she just squeezed his hand and decided to let it go. “Why did you bring that up anyway?”

There was another apology resting on the tip of his tongue, she just knew it, but he held it back... although what he said instead wasn't that much better. “It was something my mother taught me.”

She stilled, and only he could tell what kind of expression she was wearing at the moment.

It must not have been particularly positive judging by his own expression but he elected to avoid drawing attention to it and looked away before he continued speaking. “She called it the deceitful truth – intentionally present the truth in a way that would be misunderstood by the other party exactly as you intended.”

His explanation was delivered in a monotone voice and with a distant look in his eyes as he no doubt recalled the day he had been given this exact lesson. As his borderline clinical words in the present added clarity to the harsh ones he had said on that day so long ago, she watched as a ghostly figure flickered in and out of existence behind him.

Even without the finer details, she already knew who it was that was haunting him and the knowledge made her heart clench with pain and rage.

If Rhea was still alive somewhere out there, she had better pray they never crossed paths.

“Kara?”

The sound of her name drew her attention back to Mon-El whereupon she found him studying her with a mixture of worry and regret. “Does it bother you that much?”

Was he asking about her essentially learning from Rhea or all the pain and suffering his mother had inflicted on him? Either way, she realised, her answer would be the same. “...Yes.”

To her unhappiness, her response only darkened his mood even further. “I'm sorry.”

“It's... It's fine. You can't... It's not your fault.” She drew a deep breath and did her best to shove the anger bubbling inside her into the back of her head. “I'm okay. Keep going.”

It looked like he was going to call the whole thing off – the way the blue-grey energy was subtly probing her thoughts suggested as much – but the moment passed and he resumed talking. This time, however, his demeanour more closely resembled the times he was passing on the knowledge Bal-Seg had drilled into his head than... someone else. “Do you think you're lying when you tell people you're Kara Danvers?”

Completely thrown by the unexpected question, she struggled to find an answer. “I... I suppose so. I mean, I'm Kara Zor-El.”

“But 'Kara Danvers' exists,” he pointed out. “She has existed for over ten years and counting. There is a wealth of evidence proving her existence – documents, photographs, the memories of those who have ever interacted with her... You have managed to live the life you have been living all this time because Kara Danvers is 'real'. In short, you have essentially _made_ Kara Danvers real.”

“'A lie told often enough becomes the truth',” she recited a quote she had come across during one of her library raiding sessions.

“Exactly. You are Kara Zor-El – this is the absolute truth – and you are also Kara Danvers... but at the same time, you and I both know that 'Kara Danvers' is an identity you had to adopt to survive on Earth. She is not your true self, yet you are the one – the _only_ one – who has lived her life... and that in essence makes it wholly yours and yours alone.”

“So what you're saying is that I've already been practising this... 'deceitful truth' in a way all this time without even knowing it. Because I'm both lying and telling the truth when I say that I'm Kara Danvers.”

He nodded, the faint hints of a smile touching the corners of his lips, and the blue-grey energy emitted that wave of quiet pride it always did when she excelled at any of her lessons. “Perhaps a more precise example would be your superhero identity. Now let me ask: Are you Supergirl?”

Once again, she found it difficult to answer although this time it was due to her distaste for the name Ms Grant had given her. “I... suppose...” she muttered reluctantly.

His faint smile turned into a slight grin tinged with the same bemusement she could feel coming from his side of their connection. “That is what people call you out there when you wear your supersuit, yes. But you didn't choose that name for yourself, did you? In fact, you don't even like it and you still wish you could use a different name even if you haven't quite decided what that might be.”

With his previous example still fresh in her mind, it was easy for her to figure out where he was leading her. “Which means that because I never actually claimed that name for myself, I'm technically not lying if I say that I'm not Supergirl.”

“Correct again.” Then, without warning, his already imperceptible grin vanished to be replaced with an expression that communicated nothing but deep sorrow and the blue-grey energy retreated from her mind.

The change alarmed Kara, to say the least. “Mon-El? What's wrong?”

“I think...” he started very slowly as if he was already regretting giving voice to the thought that had manifested in his head, “that you could last a day in Daxam's royal court now.”

It took her a while to remember why those words sounded so familiar, and when she finally did it struck her just how far they had come since that one sliver of eternity. “Just a day?” she joked weakly in an attempt to alleviate the mood.

Uncharacteristically, the corners of his lips didn't even so much as twitch. “That's already one day too many for me.”

There was no point in trying any further, so she gave up and reached out with her other hand to cradle his face. “This is going to keep me safe. That's what matters.”

He didn't resist her touch and even leaned into it, but the shadows lurking in his gaze remained. “At what cost?”

She didn't know how to answer him with words so she kissed him instead, wishing with all her heart that this was enough to heal what time could not – that she could divest him of the shadows of the past that still clung to him as easily as she could his clothes.

He kissed her back with an intensity that suggested he knew what she was thinking and wanted the same thing, and for a while they let themselves forget the many cruelties the universe had foisted upon them.

* * *

Kara waited a whole day before she acted.

The reason she gave herself was that she needed additional time to prepare herself for what promised to be a gruelling experience which was true... but the _other_ reason was that she was unapologetically petty enough to want James to sweat just a little bit longer. He'd wormed his way into CatCo because of his connection to Superman; it was only fitting for that to be the cause of his current dilemma.

Alas, all good things had to come to an end, and so it was with a displeased and no-nonsense demeanour that she made her way to James' office.

“Here.” She thrust a piece of paper out to him, secretly enjoying the stunned surprise on his face when he looked up and noticed her presence. “If Ms Grant wants that interview, she's going to need these details.”

His surprise was replaced with a satisfied smile far too quickly for her liking and he reached out for the paper. “Thank-”

Irritated, she pulled back before he could pluck it out of her hand and watched as surprise dominated his features again. “Let me make one thing clear,” she started in a flat tone. “I'm not doing this for you; I'm doing this because _I_ want to do it. The only reason I'm even giving this to you is to make sure there's no direct connection between Kara Danvers and Supergirl. Do you understand?”

“Of course.” That smile of his returned, but this time something about it seemed patronising. It only served to irritate her even more. “You can trust me.”

She chose not to deign his statement with a response and dropped the piece of paper on his desk before stalking out. _He's not worth it. You have more important things to focus on._ She shook it all off and smacked her cheeks for good measure. That took care of the first step; now she had to wait until night fell and hope that she really was as prepared as she thought.

Doing a routine sweep of National City before she had to meet Ms Grant helped keep her mind from driving itself insane with worry, and before long it was time. Even so, she didn't rush over and flew at a reasonable speed so that she would be slightly late. Mon-El's advice was already echoing in her head as she took a moment to establish her connection with him just before Ms Grant's car at the top of the hill came into view.

“_Remember, you're starting off with a significant advantage. You know she wants this interview but she doesn't know that you need it for your own reasons. Don't squander that. Keep up the impression that this means more to her than it does to you. Let her show up first, for one. But don't be too late; if she really is anything like my mother, that's going to piss her off and you do NOT want her pissed off at you before you've even said or done anything.”_

“Tardiness,” Ms Grant clicked her tongue as Kara touched down. “Not exactly an admirable quality to have and certainly not when it comes to a superhero.”

“I was patrolling the city.” Kara left out the part where she'd intentionally done it so that Ms Grant would arrive at their meeting spot first. “I heard you want to talk so let's talk.”

“Straight to business. I can respect that.” Ms Grant pulled out her phone and tapped it a few times before holding it out towards Kara. “Now let me return the favour. First things first: Do you mind if I record this?”

Kara eyed the device with a raised eyebrow. “Considering you already have your phone out, does my answer even matter?”

“I can put it away if you want. So what will it be?”

“_Your first move should be to make a small concession of some kind. Consider it a variation of the gift you would prepare and present if you're about to meet someone important in an official setting. It's a gesture of respect and goodwill- Yes, I know what you think of it based on your expression alone but it's a tried and true method of diplomacy and I'm sure you can't argue with that. Even if it's my mother or Ms Grant on the other end.”_

“I suppose there's no harm in it.”

“Perfect. First question: Who are you?”

“You should already know the answer to that,” Kara replied evenly. “After all, you're the one who named me.”

Ms Grant's eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly. “Don't be cute. My trademark on that name is pending, yes, but we both know that's not what I meant.”

Being the one who had helped file said trademark, Kara was quietly grateful for this foreknowledge; if she had allowed that information to surprise her, she had no doubt that it would've shown on her face and Ms Grant would've taken advantage of it. “If you want more specific answers, you should probably ask more specific questions.”

There was a look in Ms Grant's eyes which could be either irritation or grudging respect. It was always hard to tell with her. “Fine. Then let's start with the general items. Where are you from?”

Easy enough. “The planet Krypton. My parents sent me to Earth just before it was destroyed because they thought I would be safe-”

“I feel like I've heard this story before,” Ms Grant interrupted Kara with a heavy sigh that conveyed nothing but pure boredom.

“_At some point, she's very likely going to try and minimise the value of the information you're providing her so that she can get more out of you. It was one of my mother's favourite tricks that she liked to use in trade negotiations. The solution is simple: Call her bluff.”_

Kara kept her irritation in check and put on an air of indifference as she turned away and made as if she was going to fly off. “In that case, I guess there's nothing else for us to talk about. Excuse me then.”

“Hold on.” This time, the irritation in Ms Grant's voice was unmistakable, and when Kara turned back around she was greeted with the familiar sight of her boss' scowl. “I didn't say the interview was over. Or did you suddenly reconsider this arrangement?”

The urge to smirk in triumph was overwhelming – after all, how many people in the world could say that they'd gotten one over the great Cat Grant? – but Kara suppressed it and maintained a neutral expression. “No. But if you have other questions, ask away. Otherwise, I don't see any reason to continue this.”

There was a dangerous gleam in Ms Grant's eyes that hadn't been there before. “So, I can assume that all of your powers are the same as the Man of Steel's? The flying, the super strength, the freezy breath thing?”

“Yes. We _are_ from the same planet, after all.”

“Would you consider yourself to be at the same level as him then?”

“I don't see why we need to be compared in the first place so I won't answer that.”

“I'll take that as an admission you think otherwise. Now,” Ms Grant continued before Kara could object to the conclusion, “perhaps the most important question: Why are we just hearing from you now?”

Kara tensed. Time to really put that deceitful truth lesson to good use. “I haven't been on Earth as long as him.”

“But you _have_ been here for some time, haven't you?” Ms Grant pressed. “Besides, that doesn't explain your absence between your plane-catching act and your appearance at the bank.”

Henshaw's face came to the forefront of Kara's mind. “...There was a situation that had to be dealt with first before I could make myself known again.”

“And what situation would that be? Getting a makeover?”

“I'm not at liberty to discuss that. All you need to know is that it involved protecting someone's life.” Namely her own, but Kara wasn't about to share that part.

Ms Grant looked at her as if she suspected something but luckily chose to pursue a slightly different line of questioning. “So does that mean that we should expect you to disappear at random to who knows where on some secret mission? Can National City afford to have a part-time superhero? What if you decide to be conveniently unavailable when you're _really_ needed?”

Even though she knew that she was being baited, Kara couldn't help but bristle at the indirect accusation. “I'll be where I'm needed. That's what matters. This is not a responsibility I take lightly.”

“So you say.” Ms Grant clicked her tongue and forged on before Kara could defend herself any further. “Any plans to start a family then, since we're on the subject of being randomly unavailable?”

The unexpected curveball immediately made Kara think of Mon-El, and it threw her off so much that she nearly dissolved into a sputtering mess of denial. Only the fact that it also caused her to recall another one of his words of advice saved her from revealing far more than she was willing to share.

“_Now, this is probably the part you're going to dislike the most: You have to let her win. Or, at the very least, let her THINK she won. That means you have to give her something that she'll consider valuable enough to see it as a coup AND make it seem like you actually wanted to keep to yourself. Once she has that, she should be satisfied enough that she won't dig any further. For the moment, at least.”_

“I'm just curious: Has anyone ever asked my cousin that kind of question?” Kara bit out, the irritation in her voice not just for show.

Just as expected, Ms Grant's eyes lit up like a predator that had just spotted a weak and vulnerable prey. “Superman is your cousin?”

Time to bow out. “This interview is over.” With those words, Kara spun around and shot off into the night sky, ignoring the last few questions being shouted at her asking about what she did when she wasn't protecting National City. Hopefully that would be enough... and hopefully she hadn't given Ms Grant more than she had expected. After all, Ms Grant saw Kara Danvers almost every single day and even though she still hadn't gotten her name right even once, Ms Grant hadn't earned the moniker Queen of All Media by not being observant.

Well. That was a worry for tomorrow. Right now, she was going to consider this a win... and maybe celebrate a little.

* * *

Cat stopped recording as she watched Supergirl fly off and continued studying her until she disappeared into the distance. That had been a productive interview in more than one way. She would never admit this to anyone but herself but she had vastly underestimated her opponent. She had expected blatant inexperience in dealing with unfriendly press, much less being put under a microscope, but it looked as if National City's resident superhero had gotten some level of coaching from someone with experience in the matter. And then there was the fact that something about Supergirl that seemed almost... familiar...

A smirk curved her lips as she got into her car. She'd missed this – the thrill of chasing down a front page-worthy exclusive – and there was no doubt that Supergirl was going to continue providing her just that until she dug up every one of the superhero's secrets.

* * *

“I take this to mean the interview went well.”

Kara hummed lazily, not even bothering to lift her head from its favourite resting place right above Mon-El's heart as her finger idly traced her name on his bare chest. (“So possessive,” he'd teased her when he had first caught her doing it subconsciously, and she had been so embarrassed she had taken extra care not to do it again. However, he hadn't teased her again when she had slipped up, and she had taken that as tacit permission to keep doing it without a hint of shame.)

A rumble of laughter shook her pillow, the mirth in it matched by the blue-grey energy swirling in her head. “That would be a 'yes' then. Does that mean my advice proved useful?”

It was with a somewhat annoyed huff that she gave up and propped her chin on his chest so that she could glare balefully at him. “Are you asking because you're genuinely curious or because you want me to sing your praises?”

The look of feigned innocence on his face was answer enough. “Why can't it be both? I mean, you hardly ever pay me a compliment...”

“That's because you become insufferable anytime I say anything remotely nice about you to your face,” she huffed in annoyance and pinched him lightly for good measure. Even as she said those words, however, she let herself enjoy how relaxed and happy he looked in this moment, free of the darkness of his past that still lurked in the corners of his eyes and soul on an average day. She always liked seeing him like this – liked it even more knowing that she was the one who had this effect on him.

“Come on, Kara,” he wheedled as he gave her that blasted puppy dog expression of his which was made all the more effective by the tousled state of his hair – also her handiwork –, “can't you just give me _one_ tiny compliment? It's just one.”

She rolled her eyes and pushed herself up to rest her weight on her arms so that she could glare at him more effectively. “As if it would stop at 'just' one. And as if you wouldn't keep reminding me for Rao knows how long afterwards that I'd said what I'd said _like you did the last few times_.”

“Oh, you've said nice things about me before? I don't remember that so would you mind refreshing my memory?” he asked with comically wide eyes.

“I'm not falling for that obvious trick. How gullible do you think I am?” she accused and pinched him again for good measure.

He jerked a little but otherwise remained unfazed and even started grinning at her. The uninterrupted flow of mirth coming through their connection certainly backed up that observation. “Well, I seem to recall someone thinking that I was going to apologise for reacting like any normal person would when a stranger accuses them of committing a wide range of crimes...”

Stunned, she spent a brief moment sputtering before she managed to recover. “Wh- That was _forever_ ago! _Literally!_ I can't believe you'd bring that up _now_!”

Her reaction only made his grin widen. “You know what I always say: Daxamites-”

“-never play fair,” she finished in a peeved tone. “You've mentioned that. Several times.”

“And yet you keep forgetting it,” Mon-El pointed out with glee. “It makes me wonder if you forgot my advice and messed up that interview so all this-” he gestured at the both of them and the bedroom they were in, “-was just you trying to get over it. I know you're not fond of my mother-”

Kara snorted at the understatement.

“-but that doesn't mean you should ignore anything of value that just happens to come from her,” he finished.

“It went fine, okay?” she answered grouchily. “And can we please not talk about your mother while we're in bed?”

That earned her a raised eyebrow. “I know I'm not supposed to talk about other women while we're together but really? Even my mother?”

“_Especially_ your mother.” More than a little peeved now, she let out an aggrieved noise. “Rao, are you Daxamites really this lacking in basic decorum?”

“Or maybe it's more like you Kryptonians have too many hang-ups,” he countered readily.

“_We do not!_ I'll have you know that this is considered poor conduct among humans too which means _your_ people are the anomalies!”

“I think that just means your people are as unevolved as humans in which case I say thank you for finally admitting that Daxamites are superior to Kryptonians.”

Her response was to yank his pillow out from under his head and smack him in the face with it.

He naturally retaliated accordingly, and their pillow fight continued for a while before he escalated it into a tickle fight that she only 'won' by distracting him with a much more mutually enjoyable activity.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew, that was a lot. For the record, the last scene was a special addition to celebrate both Valentine's Day in this story and Mon-El's brief return to the show for the 100th episode. For a moment, our ship sailed again... I'm actually allowing myself to believe in a Karamel endgame now even if we have to wait for the last five minutes of the show. Only time will tell if it really happens but either way, this story will probably still be chugging along by the time we find out, haha. Also, for the record, this is the first and last time you'll see Leslie. No Livewire or any metas in this story; I prefer to focus on the aliens. Anyway, hope you guys liked the chapter and I'll see you in the next update!
> 
> Season 1 Rant for the Chapter:  
It's honestly baffling how unprepared Kara was for that interview with Cat. I mean, not only has she worked in a media company for several years but she's being interviewed by the very woman she works for, for goodness' sake! Not to mention zero advice from certain individuals on what to expect or how to behave or LITERALLY ANYTHING THAT COULD'VE HELPED HER AVOID BEING A DISASTER. On that note, why did they feel the need to make Kara so grossly incompetent in practically everything she did anyway? What was the point? Small mistakes would've been enough to show she was new to the job without making her seem like Godzilla in a skirt...


	7. Dominoes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things happen, leading to more things happening, and so on and so forth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys. I know things are bad everywhere now so hopefully you're all doing okay. If you're in a badly hit place, please stay at home, exercise, eat healthy food and take care of both your physical and mental health as well as that of your loved ones. If you're not, please still wash your hands and try to limit your contact with other people because it's better to be safe than sorry. Anyway, here's a chapter; I hope it helps those of you stuck indoors to cope even if for a short while and you enjoy the surprises in store for you.
> 
> Also remember that Melwood are happily married and going to be parents to a really lucky boy!

As expected, Ms Grant gave her exclusive interview piece with Supergirl top spot on all the written media channels she owned and had the rest carry the same information as well.

Because she had penned it herself – her first article after having stepped away from the front lines years ago to dedicate all her time and effort to handling the none too small task of running a company the size of CatCo –, it got even more coverage from the rest of the media world in the process.

The article itself was something Kara had anticipated to a certain extent; aside from having that flair and precision that Ms Grant had come to be known for as she rose in the industry, it bordered on sensationalist with the way it presented the few details Kara had deemed safe enough to share in the interview. For every answer the article provided about Supergirl, it added two or even three more questions and speculations. In short, it was expertly designed to satiate the curiosity of National City's residents about their local superhero just enough to leave them wanting even more... and within that lay the unspoken promise that only CatCo could give them what they desired.

Of course, the revelation that Supergirl and Superman were related proved to be the main draw with pictures of them side by side dominating half the front page. It sparked a million questions across all social media platforms about everything from why they hadn't interacted yet to whether there were more relatives hiding who knew where.

(It made her rather uncomfortable on multiple levels, if she was being honest, and she thought she had every right to feel that way.)

Everyone called as the day passed to either compliment the article or simply share their opinions. Alex had sounded torn between incredulous and entertained, Selina had been naturally amused, Bruce had grunted an approval before sharing tips that aligned with what Mon-El had taught her, Eliza had teasingly said she was adding it to her Supergirl scrapbook and Kal-El... had been ignored. Again.

Lois' call, on the other hand, was welcome.

“You should be proud of yourself,” she told Kara sincerely. “I have personal experience with how Cat conducts her interviews and based on what I read, I'd say you handled yourself really well. Clark was still kind of adjusting to the spotlight when I interviewed him that first time – god, it really has been a long time, hasn't it? – and I managed to catch him flat-footed a couple of times so don't feel bad about letting that cousin thing slip.”

Kara cleared her throat awkwardly. “Um... Actually... I meant to share that.”

“Really?” The surprise in Lois' voice was unmistakable. “Why? I mean, if you don't mind me asking, that is.”

“I figured the only way to make sure Ms Grant didn't pry too much and uncover something I didn't want her to know was to give her something... well, juicy. Although I did kind of just fly off after that so she couldn't ask me any more questions.”

A burst of laughter crackled through the line. “Well, that's one way to deal with Cat. I should probably remember that for whenever she happens to stop by Metropolis. You know, she had a thing for Clark back when she was still working at the Daily Planet and she _definitely_ wasn't shy about it. I mean, she had the nerve to stare at his ass every time he walked past her even after Clark and I had started dating!”

The sudden urge to hurl was overwhelming. “Lois, please. I don't need to hear stories about my boss behaving inappropriately towards my cousin.”

However, that only made Lois laugh even more. “Fine, fine. No more traumatising gossip.” There was a brief pause, and when she spoke again she was being completely serious. “I'm sure I don't need to say this but I don't think you should expect this to be enough for Cat. She's about as bad as I am when it comes to chasing down a good story and since _you're_ her story...”

“I know,” Kara sighed as she massaged her temples with her free hand. “But thanks for the warning anyway.”

It was true, after all, no matter how much she wished otherwise. She had known from the start and resigned herself to the high likelihood that this media circus would not stop with just one interview. As Lois had pointed out, she worked for Ms Grant and thus was all too aware that to her boss, Supergirl was her very own golden goose. The woman was probably not going to be satisfied until she dug up every single detail about Supergirl's existence.

No, more interviews in the future were a strong possibility but with Mon-El's help, she could believe that she would be fine no matter what other curveballs Ms Grant tried to throw at her in the future. There was also the fact that considering a team of DEO agents hadn't burst into her apartment to capture her, Henshaw hadn't found the substance of the interview objectionable and her continued freedom was ensured... for now, at least.

All things considered, she told herself, it could have been much worse.

* * *

Naturally, there were still things she had not accounted for... and she would come to regret it.

* * *

Kara was in the middle of a routine sweep of downtown National City during her lunch break when Winn contacted her to let her know that police presence had been requested in one of the city's remote industrial zones. Seeing nothing else in the area that warranted her immediate attention, she thanked him for the info and headed for the address he provided.

When she realised who was at the scene, she couldn't help but smile.

“Officer Flores,” she greeted the grey-haired man standing next to the police car parked a good distance away from an abandoned factory when she landed. “Nice to see you again.”

At the sound of his name, Officer Flores turned to face Kara and his stern features relaxed slightly into an expression of put-on annoyance. “Supergirl. Nothing better to do today than hassle one of National City's finest?”

“I just missed your sunny disposition,” Kara replied with a cheeky smile.

Officer Flores let out a derisive snort, but just as he was about to respond he was interrupted by a third party.

“S-Supergirl!”

Both of them turned to find a young fresh-faced man openly gawking at Kara, his trademark fiery ginger hair almost clashing with his dark blue police uniform. Even though he looked nothing like Winn, something about the young officer made Kara connect them both in her head even though she couldn't quite figure out why.

“Hello, Officer Brown,” Kara replied with a warm smile even as she prepared herself for his usual reaction to her presence. “It's nice to see you again as well.”

Just as she had expected, the colour of his cheeks began to resemble his hair. “N-No, the pleasure's all mine! I-I mean, not that I wanted to meet you again- W-Wait, that didn't come out right! I-I-I just mean that we usually see you when there's trouble-”

“Hey rookie!” Officer Flores barked, causing the nervous man to snap his mouth shut and jump nearly a foot into the air. “Enough chatting and get your green ass in gear! In case you hadn't noticed, there's a news crew trying to drive right up to the factory so go tell them to keep their distance or scram before I throw all their law-breaking asses in jail!”

“You know, you could be just a little nicer to him,” Kara remarked as she watched Officer Brown run towards the new arrivals as if his feet had been set on fire.

Another snort escaped Officer Flores. “It's called tough love and the kid needs it in spades or he's never going to make detective.”

“Got high hopes for him, huh? Who knew you were really such a softie deep down,” Kara teased the uniformed grump.

“Shut up, Supergirl, or I'm telling every gossip rag that will listen that I once saw you play catch with a basketful of kittens,” Officer Flores shot back. “And before you ask, no, I'm not letting you just give him your autograph. If he wants it, he better man up and ask you for it to your face.”

Kara held her hands up in surrender. “Fine, fine.” Then she turned her attention back to the nearby building. “What's the situation here anyway?”

Slipping back in business mode, Officer Flores crossed his arms in front of his chest and glared at the factory as if it had personally offended him. “Got an anonymous tip from someone saying he saw a truck drive in there. Busybody supposedly went to take a look and saw people unloading barrels of radioactive waste – probably a company trying to cut costs on the disposal procedure. Either way, we're not taking any chances; a Hazmat team's been called in. We're just here to make sure no one who's got no business being involved in this mess goes poking around inside.”

“Does that include me?” Kara asked. “I could go take a look first and see if there really is anything to worry about or it was just a prank call.”

“If you want to, I'm not going to stop you,” Officer Flores replied with a shrug. “My bet's on prank in which case I'm hunting down the jackass who called it in for wasting our time and teaching him a lesson he won't forget anytime soon.”

Kara shook her head in wry amusement but chose not to say anything. Instead, she focused on the task at hand and gave the factory a cursory scan with her X-ray vision only to frown at what she saw... or rather didn't. The entire building seemed to have been lined with lead. Strange. Had the building always been like this and that was why this mystery company had chosen it? But why would they bother to take that precaution if they were already so unconcerned about doing the right thing?

Something about the situation made her uneasy but she dismissed it as paranoia and flew towards the door closest to the gate. The lock was already broken which neither confirmed nor dismissed her concerns so it was with warranted hesitation that she pushed the door open and stepped inside.

The precious seconds her eyes spent adjusting to the darkness and trying to pick out noteworthy details she could use to orientate herself cost her dearly.

She felt it before she saw it – a surge of energy that crackled through the air and made the hairs on the back of her neck stand straight up – and she turned just in time to see the blast of bright orange headed right for her.

Then there was nothing but pain.

She might have screamed. She wasn't sure. It was hard to be when all her ears could register was the sound of pure energy burning up the air around her. It was briefly interrupted by the sound of screeching metal and shattering concrete which coincided with the feel of her back first hitting and then breaking through something solid. Darkness was suddenly replaced by bright sunlight, but that offered little comfort when the remaining air in her lungs was forced out the moment she slammed into the ground.

“_Supergirl!_”

Officer Flores' voice sounded so distant, but it and the faint sensation of Mon-El's panic trickling into her mind as he responded to her reflexive activation of their connection for comfort focused her. Shaking her head in an attempt to clear it of the ringing, she struggled to push herself up onto her hands and knees.

When she finally found the strength to look up, she couldn't tell which sight terrified her more: the figure wearing a suit of powered armour advancing towards her or the rapidly approaching figures of Officers Flores and Brown.

“Stay back!” she cried out desperately even as the hoarseness of her voice made her fear that they would not be able to hear her. This opponent, whoever it might be, was powerful and if the two officers got hurt trying to protect her...

Even if they had heard her, neither of them chose to listen because they only stopped a short distance away and drew their guns. “Freeze!” Officer Brown yelled. “Put your hands in the air and step away from Supergirl!”

“Leave.” The voice that emanated from the armoured figure was digitally distorted but based on its size and considering it was speaking perfect English, Kara suspected that it belonged to a human male. “This doesn't involve you but I will hurt you if you insist on interfering.”

“Not a chance, tin man,” Officer Flores growled. “She's one of ours so _you_ back off!”

The bright orange power source embedded in the armoured man's chest plate began to glow and Kara felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand again. “Then die.”

“_NO!_”

Summoning every ounce of strength she had, she threw herself at her attacker just as he lifted his arm. As a result, the burst of energy that had been meant for the two officers coursed through her body instead, causing an amount of pain she was tempted to compare to low-level Kryptonite radiation. Nevertheless, she refused to let go, and her grip around the man's waist only loosened when they crashed into something that crumbled upon impact. It proved to be all her opponent needed because the next thing she was aware of was the sensation of a powered fist hitting her face with enough force to send her flying away and slamming into the hard ground once more.

Dazed and winded, she could do little more than lie in a crumpled heap as her lungs struggled to take in air. Her efforts on that front were shortly thwarted when something that felt like an nth metal-tipped boot made contact with her stomach and caused her to skid across the ground before she ended up flat on her back seeing stars in the bright afternoon sky.

“I take no pleasure in this, Supergirl, and you should know that I have nothing personal against you.” The man's voice sounded as if it was coming from the other side of a deep chasm but the increasingly strong tremors of his footsteps suggested he was actually getting closer. “But I want the Man of Steel to suffer. I want him to know what it feels like to lose everything.”

Superman? Between the dizziness and the seeming randomness of her attacker's statement, Kara could make neither heads nor tails of the situation.

Not that it mattered when her vision cleared just in time for the sun to be blotted out by the figure of the armoured man as he stood over her and the core in his chest plate began glowing again. “Starting with you.”

Panic filled her head – hers or Mon-El's, she couldn't tell – but just as she was beginning to wonder if this was the end for her, a red and blue blur knocked the man away. The energy blast that had been charging up in his fist still hit her, however, causing her to cry out in pain as it arced through her body and made her feel as if her blood was literally boiling in her veins.

A pair of arms scooped her up and carried her away, and the next thing was aware of was being gently put down on what felt like gravel. The roof of one of National City's skyscrapers, probably.

“Supergirl? Supergirl, are you okay?”

That voice... Sure enough, when she finally managed to shake off the last of the dizziness and looked up, she was greeted by the sight of none other than Kal-El's worried face. Stunned, she said the only thing that came to mind.

“What are _you_ doing here?!”

To say that he looked surprised would be an understatement. “What am- _You were getting attacked! On live television!_ Was I supposed to just _not_ do anything?!”

Shock at seeing her cousin gave way to anger in the blink of an eye, and she was vaguely aware that Mon-El's panic in her head had turned into a milder form of worry mixed with confusion. He was no doubt beyond bewildered at the strange and rapid change in her mood but without a way to immediately tell him what had happened, there was nothing she could do about it now except try and throw a reassuring thought his way to let him know she was out of danger. Besides, she had more pressing matters to deal with at the moment. “I would've been fine! And you were supposed to stay out of National City! You being here gets me into trouble with the DEO! How did you even know, anyway?! Have you been keeping tabs on me through the news?!”

“I was worried about you! You didn't look like you were doing fine at all! And I didn't find out by watching the news!” Kal-El defended himself, a touch of frustration in his voice and features.

His wording caught her attention and she began eyeing him suspiciously. “What do you mean by that?”

In an instant, his frustration vanished, and the guilty look that replaced it only made her even more suspicious. “Uh...”

“Tell me or so help me-” A possible answer sprang to mind and it only made her even more furious. “It was James, wasn't it? He told you to come here, didn't he?”

“He saw the news coverage and got worried,” Kal-El explained in a soothing voice. “And I think he had every right to worry. Whoever that guy was, he was set on killing you and if I hadn't gotten you out of there, he might have actually succeeded.”

Her eyes widened in shock. “Got me out of- _Are you telling me you prioritised saving me over stopping him?!_”

Even though he looked somewhat guilty, he didn't back down. “I made a judgement call. I know you're angry at me but-”

“_Of course I'm angry!_” she cut him off heatedly. “First you interfere in my fight _and then you basically let the guy go_! Now he's probably planning Rao knows what! And in the first place, he only targeted me because of _you_!”

It was his turn to stare at her in stunned surprise. “He what?”

“It doesn't matter,” she bit out as she shook her head. “If he's coming after me – and in my city, no less –, that makes him _my_ problem, not yours. Stay out of this, _Superman_.”

Without letting him get another word in edgewise, she turned on her heels and took off.

* * *

The first thing Kara did when she returned to CatCo was storm into James' office, and the coverage of Superman's rescue of her from the armoured man on every screen she passed did little to improve her already foul mood.

“Give it to me,” she snarled as she thrust her hand out in his face with her palm up.

His surprise at her presence was fleeting. “I'm glad you're okay. And give you what?”

“Don't play dumb with me, James. I know about the watch. That's how you summoned him here, isn't it?”

Instead of acquiescing, he covered the device with his other hand. “He gave it to me for situations exactly like this one, Kara, so I'm going to have to refuse. You never know when you might need his help again.”

It took a great deal of self-control to stop herself from using her powers and just snatching the damn thing off his wrist. “I didn't need his help and I definitely will _never_ need his help. You can keep it but the next time you use it, you're going to find yourself being dumped back in Metropolis so fast your head will spin.”

He didn't look like he thought she would actually do it which she considered to be his prerogative but she swore to herself as she stalked out of his office that she would make good on her promise.

Unfortunately, the rest of the day only served to keep the embers of her rage going. Everyone called to check in on her, Winn made the mistake of asking in an overly excited voice about Superman, Ms Grant ordered all her heads of department to make coverage of Supergirl's first failure and the need for Superman to save her their main focus for the next twenty-four hours...

But the cherry on top was the call she received from the last person she wanted to hear from second only to Kal-El.

“We had an agreement.”

As always, the sound of Henshaw's voice filled her with equal amounts of fear and anger. “I didn't ask him to come.”

“Be that as it may, he was still here. I suppose I should be glad the city's still in one piece and only one building was demolished in the process.”

“You make it sound like we did it on purpose.”

“I consider it the safe assumption to make when it comes to the two of you.” A strange pause followed. “How are you?”

Kara stared blankly ahead, suddenly unsure if she had heard him correctly. Was this a dream? Had she unknowingly slipped into an alternate universe where the man on the other end of the line was actually a decent human being? “I'm fine,” she heard herself answering honestly for lack of anything else to say. “He just managed to surprise me. And I guess weathering energy attacks isn't my strong suit.”

“Good. You've proven to be a reasonably valuable asset and I would consider it a hindrance if I lost that.”

“Right.” She should've expected that to be the extent of his concern. “Well, I look forward to continue being your personal alien attack dog then.”

Her snide retort was ignored, naturally. “The unidentified man who attacked you today is believed to be human which would have put him outside of our jurisdiction but we have reason to believe that his suit was built using alien technology.”

“So that means-”

“The DEO will be handling this. You will be notified if we need your assistance.”

“Yes, sir,” she muttered sarcastically when the call was abruptly ended, and only good sense stopped her from tossing her phone or crushing it into dust. A mental prod full of confused worry distracted her from her frustration and she belatedly realised with no small amount of guilt that she had left her mental connection to Mon-El open since the attack. He was probably still freaking out about her in the dream world but she had been so preoccupied with everything else that she had forgotten all about him.

Without wasting another second, she sent him a wave of comforting thoughts to reassure him that she was fine and there was no need for him to worry any more. Hopefully that would be enough to calm him until she went to sleep that night and could talk to him face to face.

* * *

Kara found herself enveloped in a bone-crushing hug before she could even open her eyes in the dream world.

“Thank the gods,” she heard Mon-El murmur into her neck as the blue-grey energy flooding into her head drowned out all her own thoughts with immeasurable amounts of relief.

“I'm okay,” she whispered soothingly as she did her best to return his hug with her arms pinned to her sides by his embrace and tangled her thoughts with his until they were nearly impossible to tell apart. “I'm okay, Mon-El. I'm okay.”

Despite her presence and reassurances, it still took a while before he let go, breaking their connection in the process, and even then it was just so that he could hold her at arm's length and scan her for injuries from head to toe. “What happened? Everything was just going on like usual and then the next thing I knew you'd initiated our connection and all I could feel was _pain_.”

She took a deep breath and prepared herself to weather his predictable reaction to what she was about to tell him. “I walked into a trap and was attacked by a human in a powered suit of armour possibly made with alien technology. He said he wanted me dead because... because he wanted Superman to suffer.”

His grip on her shoulders slackened somewhat as surprise dominated his features. “_What?_ What did he- Never mind, that's not important right now. Does this mean you managed to beat him?”

All at once, her irritation from earlier in the day resurfaced. “No. Kal-El saved me.”

If he looked surprised earlier, his expression after her latest revelation put that one to shame. “Sorry, _what_?”

Throwing her hands up in the air in frustration unfortunately dislodged his hands from their perch on her shoulders but she was too caught up in her anger to notice. “There was a news crew at the place where the man set his trap. James must have seen the coverage because he used his signal watch to alert Kal-El about my situation. So he showed up and instead of capturing that guy, do you know what he did? He just... _scooped me up and carried me away_! Like I was still a child who needed saving from everything! He didn't stop that guy so Rao knows where he is right now doing Rao knows what-”

“Good.”

The forceful one-word statement stopped Kara's rant mid-sentence and it was her turn to stare at Mon-El in surprise. “What? What do you mean, 'good'?”

To her growing confusion, his growing expression was a mixture of disbelief and exasperation. “Kara, what I'm hearing is that you nearly died today and the only reason you didn't is Kal-El showed up. The guy getting away is admittedly a problem but the important thing is you're safe.”

“'A problem' is putting it lightly!” she countered heatedly, her irritation rising to the surface once more. “He should've prioritised stopping that man! I would've been just fine-”

“_Kara._” His hands clasped her shoulders again but with so much strength this time it bordered on painful, and there was a tenseness in his grip which was mirrored in those blue-grey orbs that suggested he was barely stopping himself from shaking her senseless. “_You could have died._ _I could have lost you._ And all I would've been able to do was _feel it_.”

That was all it took for her anger to evaporate and the guilt from before to return tenfold. She'd been so caught up in her still-simmering feelings of resentment towards Kal-El – and her wounded pride, she reluctantly admitted – that she'd forgotten to take Mon-El's feelings into consideration. She knew all too well how he felt, being powerless to protect her when she was out there in the real world – even more so now that she was flying around in the open where any of Fort Rozz's escapees could easily find her. Even though he had trained her as much as he could, she would be an inconsiderate fool to think that it was enough to actually erase his fears about it not being enough to help her stay alive. “I... Sorry,” she mumbled as she averted her eyes.

At the edge of her gaze, she saw him squeeze his eyes shut and draw in a deep breath in an effort to calm himself. “Don't... I'm not angry at you. I want you to know that. I just... At this point, I don't care who it is – Alex, Bruce and Selina, the DEO, your cousin, a helglik that just happens to want to eat whoever's trying to hurt you –; as long as they're helping to keep you safe – to keep you _alive_ –, I have nothing but gratitude for them.”

For him to include Kal-El on that list and not call him an idiot showed just how serious he was about this. The realisation only made the guilt gnawing away at her compound. “I'm sorry I made you worry so much. And I'm sorry I made it seem like I was taking my well-being lightly.”

Her heartfelt apology caused him to deflate, and his grip finally loosened as his shoulders sagged and he hung his head. “No, I know you didn't mean to. It's just that I-”

“-worry,” she finished for him softly before she closed the small distance between them to wrap her arms around him and bury her face in his chest. “I know. And I'm sorry, I really am.”

He returned the hug and let out a gusty sigh into her hair as the blue-grey energy seeped back into her head, thankfully calmer than before. “Good,” he muttered so softly his words were barely audible. “You should be.”

“I also promise I'm not going to do anything stupid like try to find that man on my own without any backup.”

“Thank you.”

She waited until the blue-grey energy in her head was calm enough before she dared to try a joke. “So... does this mean you're finally okay with Kal-El? I mean, you didn't call him an idiot... and he _did_ save me...”

His incredulous grunt made his answer clear even before he verbally responded. “Don't be ridiculous. This one act doesn't absolve him of all his past stupidity and the fact that you were targeted because of him in the first place means saving your life was the least he could do.”

Even though it exasperated her to no end, his continued insistence on finding fault with her cousin caused the corners of her lips to curl upwards this time. “You really are dead set on hating him no matter what, aren't you?”

“'Hate' is a bit strong,” he corrected her in a resigned tone, “but I'd say he started it first by being a world-class idiot. I'm just treating him the way he deserves to be treated.”

She pulled away just enough to make sure that he would hear her clearly, but the distant sound of ringing reached her ears as she was about to give voice to her retort. “I think someone's calling me.”

The arms still wrapped around her body tensed and he began studying her with worry-filled eyes. “Do you think...?”

“I don't know,” she answered honestly. “I guess I'm going to find out.”

Predictably, that only compounded his concern. “Kara-”

“I won't tell you not to worry,” she cut him off gently as she raised a hand to cup his face and used their connection to soothe the agitated blue-grey energy in her head. “But I promised, remember? And I plan to keep that promise. You can trust me on that. Besides,” she added in an attempt to lighten the mood, “I can't let myself get killed because that would mean there'd be no one to rescue you.”

To her dismay, he not only failed to react the way she hoped but also said something that justifiably filled her with unease. “If you get killed out there, it won't matter if no one ever rescues me.”

She immediately wanted to fight him about that, and she would have if she didn't feel her grip on the dream world slowly slipping away. As such, she was forced to settle for the next best thing. “We're going to talk about this when I get back. So make that two promises I intend to keep.”

Then she sealed it with a firm kiss, and when she finally vanished the taste of each other's lips still lingered on both their mouths.

* * *

Kara blindly scrambled for her still ringing phone the moment she awoke, tumbling out of bed in the process, and was greeted by Alex's strained voice when she finally picked up.

“Suit up. You're not going to believe what happened.”

* * *

Out of all the things Kara had expected the armoured man – christened Reactron by CatCo courtesy of James due to the fact that his suit's energy core apparently brought nuclear reactors to mind – to do, kidnapping Maxwell Lord had not been on her list at all.

Dawn was already breaking by the time she reached the towering monolith that was Lord Technologies. That its owner had been abducted from the premises in the dead of night supported Eve's stories about how her top boss worked harder than anyone else as well as the importance of the company's latest project. But why had he been targeted in the first place? To be used as bait for another trap? Except that didn't make any sense; literally any citizen of National City would have sufficed for that. Unless Reactron – Rao, what kind of a stupid name was that? – wanted to make a statement of some kind? What could it be though?

Hopefully she would get some answers from the Lord Technologies employees who had witnessed the kidnapping. Alex had mentioned that she would be making her way there as well but Kara didn't think waiting was much of an option. Even if she didn't like Lord at all, that didn't mean that she could just leave him in the clutches of a clearly dangerous man with unknown motives.

“Supergirl,” the long-haired brunette overseeing the Lord Technologies employees present at the scene exclaimed when she noticed Kara's arrival through the large hole in the ceiling. “I wasn't expecting you to show up.”

So this was the woman Eve had told her about: Samantha Arias, Maxwell Lord's right hand woman. On paper, she was his personal assistant... except Kara was pretty sure there weren't a lot of personal assistants who had their own personal assistant and pretty much helped their bosses run their million-dollar companies while said bosses were busy with other things. In Lord's case, his empire had been built on devices he himself had invented and according to Eve, he continued to be personally involved to some extent in every single one of his company's projects. When said project was important enough to warrant his full attention, the day-to-day responsibilities of running Lord Technologies fell under Samantha's purview, and considering the company continued to be ridiculously successful, it was clear she hadn't slept her way to her current position no matter what kind of vile rumours Kara was sure were out there.

“I don't choose who does and doesn't receive my help,” Kara replied coolly. “That's not what a superhero does.”

Samantha shook her head although her expression gave nothing away. “Excuse my tone. Considering the nature of the situation, whatever help we can get would be much appreciated especially if it's from you.”

It was enough of an apology that Kara decided to let it slide and get down to business. “Can you tell me exactly what happened here?” she asked as she surveyed the laboratory she had entered albeit unconventionally and her gaze finally landed on the sleek white front of a train. So that was the next big thing coming out of Lord Technologies – incidentally the same thing that Eve had been working so hard on in her own way as one of the company's many employees. If the hype was to be believed, National City would soon have a train system that would be second only to those in Japan and it would all be thanks to none other than Maxwell Lord.

“I think you can guess most of it,” Samantha replied as she lowered her gaze to the tablet in her hands and began tapping away at it. “Mr Lord was working here along with his team when the man the media refers to as Reactron burst through the ceiling and demanded for the presence of someone with knowledge of nuclear fission. When he attempted to abduct Mr Dermott over there-” she nodded her head at a clearly distressed male scientist sitting off to the side, “-Mr Lord volunteered himself instead. Reactron took him and left the same way he had arrived. Here.” She turned her tablet around and held it out for Kara to see. “This is footage of the incident from the security system in this lab; see for yourself.”

Kara took a step closer, her full attention already focused on the screen as she watched the incidents Samantha had just described play out soundlessly. It didn't take long for her to feel like something seemed off and then figure out why: Even with the slight blurriness of the footage's quality, it was apparent enough that Reactron's suit was damaged. Kal-El's handiwork when he had swooped in to save her, no doubt. Which also possibly explained why he had come to Lord Technologies looking for an expert in nuclear fission: He needed a repairman – or at least someone who could ostensibly serve as one if the powered suit was made using alien technology. And now he had one.

“Excuse me.” The sound of a familiar voice reached Kara's ears, and she looked up towards the door to find none other than a sharp-dressed Alex stepping past a couple of protesting security guards trying to stop her from coming into the laboratory. “I'd like to speak to the person in charge here.”

“That would be me,” Samantha spoke up as she began studying Alex very intently. “And you are...?”

With a smoothness that conveyed casual confidence, Alex pulled out a black leather case and flipped it open to reveal... FBI credentials? “Special Agent Danvers. I understand there's been a kidnapping?”

It was a good thing Samantha was looking at Alex and not Kara because Kara was pretty sure her eyebrows had disappeared into her hairline. “Our tax dollars at work,” she commented dryly. “Yes, that's what I said when I called 911 after all.”

Alex didn't react to the less than friendly reception and maintained an air of professionalism. “We'd like all the footage you have of the incident for analysis, if you don't mind.”

“Of course. Anything for you... Special Agent Danvers.” For some reason, Kara detected a hint of something she couldn't quite place in Samantha's voice. “We've already conducted our own analysis and are taking action ourselves based on the information we've gleaned but you're welcome to have it.”

“With all due respect, Ms...”

“Arias. Samantha Arias.”

“Ms Arias, I understand that you're worried about your boss and want him back safe and sound as soon as possible but it would be for the best if you left it to the proper authorities. If your people interfere, there will be legal consequences at the very least.”

Kara wondered if clandestine government organisations that didn't technically exist counted as 'the proper authorities' even as she began questioning why she felt like the third wheel here. Alex hadn't even _acknowledged_ her presence, for that matter. “Um...”

“Forgive me if I trust our own people who have a deeply vested interest in seeing Mr Lord returned to us in one piece than a lone government employee who seemingly took her time to show up,” Samantha replied as if Kara hadn't made a sound. “Besides, Supergirl here is also going to be working on it so I think we have all the help we need.”

“Yes. Well.” Clearing her throat and desperately hoping that her face wasn't betraying her at the moment, Kara seized the opportunity to get out of there. “On that note, I'll, uh... get on that right now.” Then she flew straight out of the laboratory and waited on the roof of a nearby building for Alex to exit the building before she dared to call her adoptive sister. “What was that?”

“What was what?” Alex asked back. “And hi to you too. If you're asking about freezing you out back there, I'm sorry; I just didn't want to give anyone any reason to think we might know each other but I guess I overdid it.”

“Well, I might have been a little upset about that so thank you for the apology but that's not what I meant,” Kara sighed. “'Special Agent Danvers'? _Really?_ Isn't it a crime to impersonate a federal officer?”

“Technically speaking, I _am_ a federal officer.”

“Ha ha. Very funny, smartass.”

“In case you've forgotten, no one's supposed to know the DEO exists so I can't exactly go around using my real job title in situations like this. And yes, we do actually have clearance to do it.”

“...I have so many questions about that but I'm going to just put that aside for now because we've got more important things on our plate. Did she send you the footage?”

There was a telling pause. “...Actually, I was there just to facilitate a hack of their servers and make sure they didn't take any independent action that could result in them finding out something we don't want them to know – which I achieved, by the way, in case you were wondering. Anyway, the footage and everything else they have that might be relevant is already being analysed back at the DEO as we speak.”

Kara stared blankly in front of her as she tried and failed to process what she had just heard. “...Okay, I'm just... going to ignore all the stuff you just said which makes me want to write an exposé on government overreach and ask if you have anything useful.”

“Call me back in about... ten minutes. I should have something to share by then. And don't go chasing this Reactron guy on your own, got it? ”

“All right, all right. Geez, you lose one fight and suddenly everyone thinks you need coddling...”

Luckily, Alex chose to just end the call instead of respond to that although Kara was sure her adoptive sister had rolled her eyes in spectacular fashion. Left with nothing to do but wait, she began to mull over the situation. If Lord was as smart as she thought, there was a good chance he would be able to repair Reactron's suit... which in turn meant that when she encountered him in the process of rescuing Lord, she was going to be in danger of falling to his energy blasts again. In short, she was going to need help and she wasn't sure she wanted to put Alex or any of the other DEO agents in the line of fire so who-

The answer came to her immediately, and even though the stubborn part of her rebelled at the idea, she swallowed her pride and started figuring out a plan.

What Alex had to share when she finally called only cemented the fact that her newly formed plan was the only sensible way forward. Now all she had to do was convince everyone else to go along with it.

* * *

“I'll be completely honest; I wasn't expecting you to call. Especially not so soon after... you know.”

“Since you started it, I'll be completely honest too and admit I didn't really want to call you at first.”

Tense silence descended upon the two cousins as they studied each other in the light of the early morning sun, both of them dressed in supersuits dyed in their house colours and bearing their family crest. (A small voice at the back of Kara's head wondered if this was Rao's will in some way – if the unconventional lives they now led had been the divine plan for them all along.)

Kal-El was the first to break eye contact, casting his gaze out towards the horizon as he shuffled his feet. “Look, I'm sorry I overstepped boundaries but I can't regret it when the alternative was potentially letting you die.”

“...I know,” she whispered before she closed her eyes and drew a long slow breath. “And I'm sorry too. You saved my life and I responded by yelling at you for it. Thank you, by the way. I might not be here right now if you'd kept your distance.”

A warm smile broke out over his face as he faced her again. “Anytime. We're family, after all.” He paused as a thought seemed to occur to him. “...So does that mean you forgive James too?”

She grimaced. “Don't push it.”

“Okay, okay,” he chuckled before he sobered. “Should we just move on to why you called then?”

“Yeah, we should.” She sucked in another breath. “Does the name 'Bakerline Nuclear Power Station' ring any bells?”

Recognition and confusion twisted his features. “Yes? A group of terrorists attempted to start a full-on meltdown there five years ago but I stopped the core from overloading. Why are you bringing that up now?”

Now came the hard part, and she took no pleasure in what she was about to say. “Then would you also happen to remember two reactor engineers who'd been working there by the names of Ben and Alyssa Krull?”

The look on his face was nothing but abject sorrow. “...Yes.” He looked away again. “You remember the ones you save... but you remember the ones you couldn't even more. It's unrealistic but... I hope you never know what that's like.”

Thoughts of Krypton assailed her at his words, and she wondered how he would react if she told him she already did. “I hope so too,” she said instead before she shook away the melancholy threatening to overcome her. “But that's not what we're here to talk about. The DEO managed to identify Reactron. It's Ben Krull.”

His head snapped back to look at her but shock rendered him momentarily speechless. “He survived? But how? And why is he doing all this?”

This time, it was she who looked away. “I can't answer as to the how but I think I know the why. When he was attacking me, he said he wanted you to suffer the same way he did. I think... I think he blames you for his wife's death.”

So many godlike abilities were at his disposal, and yet in that moment Kal-El looked so small and powerless. “I don't think I can fault him for that.”

“You tried. And you saved millions of other people.”

“I could have saved more.”

Considering she knew she would feel the same way in his shoes, Kara found herself at a loss for words, and silence reigned between them once more.

That did not last long, however, because he drew a deep breath and suddenly he was Superman again – invincible and infallible. “What's the plan to stop him? I assume that's why you called?”

“Yes. You're aware that he's kidnapped Maxwell Lord, right?” She waited for him to nod in acknowledgement before she continued. “It seems you did a number on his suit so he needed a repairman. Judging by how long it's been since Lord was taken, the repairs are either underway or already complete and he'll be back to full combat capability by the time we find him again. Considering his objective, he's most likely holding on to Lord to use as bait.”

He gave her his full attention. “What are you suggesting we do?”

“A team up,” she said simply. “Energy signatures matching the ones detected at the abandoned factory and Lord Technologies popped up at a junkyard sixty miles south of the city centre. One of us rescues Lord while the other keeps Mr Krull busy. Then we take him down together once Lord's safe and sound. His suit is powered by a Midonakan crystal which has roughly the same qualities as a demon core – probably why he needed an expert in nuclear fission to repair his suit – so we're going to have to be careful about how we de-power him or National City's going to have its very own Chernobyl.”

“And the DEO is fine with this?” he asked with justifiable incredulity.

“I got in touch with Henshaw and convinced him to give us – or rather you – permission to operate in National City just this once. A team will be on hand as backup in case we need it and they'll take Reactron into custody once he's incapacitated.” She left out the fact that Henshaw had promised that he would collect on this 'favour' in the near future and the team in question would be led by none other than Alex.

The look he gave her suggested he had suspected there were in fact strings attached to this arrangement but he chose not to voice it. “All right. You want to flip a coin to see who gets which assignment or...?”

Despite the seriousness of the situation, a faint impish smile curved her lips. “Fastest one there gets the easy job.”

“Wh- Hey!” he exclaimed as he watched her speed off. “You didn't even say which junkyard!”

* * *

Even though she herself had set the terms, Kara ultimately chose to be the one to keep Krull busy. She overrode Kal-El's heated objections with difficulty, arguing that he was already focused on killing her. If his opponent was Superman and he was aware that Supergirl was nearby, there was a chance he would disengage from the battle to hunt her instead and that would put Lord in danger.

“Promise you'll be careful?” Kal-El had asked without making an effort to disguise his concern. “No unnecessary risks until I've gotten Lord out of the danger zone?”

“Yes,” she had huffed in irritation. “Now please just focus on what you're supposed to do. And if you're so worried about me, just make sure you're not a sloth about your end so you can back me up as soon as possible.”

“I think I'm actually starting to prefer the time when you didn't speak to me,” he had joked lightly before flying off.

“Supergirl.”

The digitally distorted voice of Ben Krull reached Kara's ears, and she turned to find him standing in a small open space in the middle of the junkyard. Judging by the brightness of the energy core in his chest plate, Lord had managed to repair it. “Mr Krull,” she called out with her hands raised in a placating manner even as she slowly edged towards the nearest pile of scrap metal. Although a part of her knew it was almost futile to reason with him, she couldn't just _not_ try. “I'm not here to fight you. I know why you hate my cousin and I know what you've lost. It doesn't have to be like this.”

He didn't react to the fact that she knew his identity. “There is nothing else but this.”

“That's not true,” she argued softly. “Mr Krull... Ben... I don't think your wife would want you to hurt anyone in her name. You survived; she'd want you to live.”

“Live?” A hellish noise vaguely resembling a laugh escaped him. “I died five years ago with her.” Then he raised his arm and the Midonakan crystal in his suit's chest plate began glowing. “And now it's your turn.”

She dove for cover just in time as the spot where she had been standing a scant second ago exploded in a shower of dirt and bits of scrap metal. Snagging a car door along the way, she kept moving, making sure to keep her distance even as she lured him away from the warehouse he had stashed Lord. With his superspeed, Kal-El should be able to rescue Lord in no time but there was a chance he had discovered a trap they hadn't been able to see with their X-ray vision so she had to expect a delay to some extent. _Take your time_, she thought sarcastically to herself as she felt the air around her sizzle in a telling manner again. _It's not like I'm in danger of being turned into a crisp anytime soon._

“Mr Krull!” It felt like forever before Kara heard Kal-El's voice cut through the air. “Please, stop this. There's been enough death and destruction already.”

“No.” Was it her imagination or did Krull's voice sound weaker than before? “It'll only be enough when you're gone.”

“Superman!” she called out as she peeked over her makeshift shield.

“Lord is safe!” he answered her unasked question before he was forced to dodge an energy blast. “You okay, Supergirl?”

“I'm fine!” She tossed her makeshift shield to the side just as Krull pointed his fists at the cousins and the Midonakan crystal in his chest plate began glowing even brighter than before. “Go!”

As one, the two Kryptonians avoided the lethal blasts meant for them before Kal-El slammed their opponent to the ground and pinned him down. While he kept Krull incapacitated, Kara did a lightning-quick scan of the junkyard before spotting what she had been looking for: the battered remains of a lead statue. A concentrated beam of heat vision had it melting before she even reached it so all she had to do was grab a fistful of the metal and fly straight back into the fight.

Krull's almost feral screams echoed throughout the junkyard, the sound made even more disturbing by his suit, and she returned not a moment too soon; the Midonakan crystal was burning with an intensity that suggested an impending meltdown – possibly triggered intentionally in an attempt to take his target out with him. Without wasting another second, she wrapped her hand around the object and only waited long enough for the lead to start solidifying before she tightened her grip just a little and yanked. Almost immediately, the suit powered down and Krull was no longer able to so much as struggle due to being weighed down by it from head to toe.

A brief pause the span of a heartbeat allowed Kara to lock gazes with him, and all she saw staring back at her was pure malevolent hatred.

Maybe he had been right earlier. Maybe Ben Krull really had died that day and all she was looking at now was a wraith anchored to the land of the living by feelings of immeasurable loss and resentment.

Then Kal-El's fist connected with Krull's masked face and he was out.

With the threat of imminent death no longer looming over their heads, the two Kryptonians finally allowed themselves to relax although the mood remained sombre.

“I want to believe there's hope for him still,” she whispered, her voice sounding far too loud to her own ears.

“So do I,” he murmured before he cast his gaze in her direction. “Will you be all right?”

She drew a deep breath and exhaled audibly. “...Yes.” Then she finally met his gaze. “You should probably go before the DEO starts making a fuss.”

“Right, right,” he sighed as he got to his feet and prepared to take off before he stopped and turned back to look at her. “Keep in touch?”

The hesitation in his voice and expression made her mind up for her. “Yeah, I'll keep in touch.”

That earned her a smile that was all Kal-El instead of Superman, and he took off without another word.

Kara watched him disappear into the clear blue sky and continued staring at the dot in the distance her cousin had become for several seconds before she spoke up. “You can show your face already, Alex.”

“Oh thank _god_.” Alex couldn't have sounded more relieved if she'd tried, and Kara turned around just as her adoptive sister was in the process of yanking off the tactical mask she had been wearing. “Why can't these stupid things be a little more _breathable_?”

“For the same reason your bulletproof vest is so tight,” Kara pointed out with mild bemusement. “It wouldn't keep you safe otherwise.”

Unsurprisingly, that prompted Alex to roll her eyes rather spectacularly. “It was a rhetorical question, genius.” She nodded at Krull's prone form. “Leave him to us. If you go now, you might still be able to make it to work on time.”

“What's going to happen to him?” Kara found herself asking before she could stop herself. “I mean, he's human so he's going to be tried in a proper court of law even though he used alien technology, right?”

The sadness in Alex's eyes immediately put Kara on guard. “...We picked up Lord from where Superman dropped him off and he told us what he'd been forced to do... as well as what he'd observed. Krull... He's sick. _Really_ sick. Respiratory distress, skin desquamation and ulcering... I mean, it's not really a surprise; the man was exposed to enough radiation to kill an entire village so it's actually a miracle he survived this long. And then there's the fact that the human and alien technology that make up his suit apparently might as well have been slapped together with duct tape and chewing gum. Kara... I don't think he's going to live long enough to stand trial.” She turned her gaze towards the man in question. “There's an analogy in there somewhere about revenge, I think, if you care to look for it.”

“I guess,” Kara murmured as she too looked at the unconscious man and wondered if his eventual death would weigh on Kal-El's mind or hers more.

* * *

“You're the Pepper Potts to his Tony Stark,” Patricia Arias liked to say whenever the topic of Maxwell Lord came up in conversation.

Samantha would roll her eyes every single time her mother made that reference. Then she would calmly tell her mother that this was real life, not a Marvel movie, and while she did in fact pretty much co-run Lord Technologies, her relationship with her boss was strictly professional and it was going to stay that way forever.

Thankfully, Ruby would back her up by making the most spectacular retching noises at the mere implication of the statement which never failed to get her scolded by her grandmother for 'behaving in a terribly unladylike manner'.

It was certainly an inappropriate time to be thinking about such things considering she was currently (somewhat impatiently) waiting for Mr Lord to be released from the private hospital where he was being checked over. They would have to move fast after this; she'd done her best to keep the information that he was here confidential but she had no doubt that someone in the building had leaked it by now and the press would be upon them soon enough. However, the similarities between her current situation and that scene of Pepper waiting on the tarmac for Tony to stroll out of the plane after being rescued from Afghanistan were a little too on the nose for her to ignore them.

Her irrelevant thoughts were thankfully interrupted by the appearance of the man she had been looking for at long last. Walking casually down the hallway, he wore a smile on his face that suggested he had just had a successful business meeting instead of return from being kidnapped by some C-list comic book supervillain come to life.

“Ah, Samantha,” he greeted her once he was close enough. “Everything's still running smoothly back at the office, I trust?”

“Of course, Mr Lord,” she replied, turning on her heels and matching his pace without missing a beat as he strode towards the exit. “Repairs to the laboratory are set to start the second it's no longer a crime scene according to the authorities and I've rescheduled your appointments for today and tomorrow so you can rest-”

“No time to rest!” he cut her off with a wave of his hand. “We have work to do. Starting with a press conference which I'm sure will be easy to arrange since the press are probably on their way here as we speak.”

Even though she was probably the one person in the world most aware of how eccentric her boss was – she considered it par for the course with visionaries like him so it didn't really bother her –, something about his current behaviour set off alarm bells in her head. “...Mr Lord? What work are you referring to exactly?”

He paused at her question and turned to face her, but the fact that his smile seemed just that little bit brighter did not in fact ease her concerns. “Samantha, have you ever given a thought to the identities of superheroes like Superman and Supergirl?”

Unbidden, comparisons between herself and Pepper sprang to mind again... except when Pepper's boss had returned, he had set about turning himself to a superhero; she, however, somehow wasn't so sure that the same goal was what her own boss had in mind.

* * *

Kara ended up being late for work by a few minutes and subsequently on the receiving end of Ms Grant's passive-aggressive and very creatively worded ire, but otherwise the rest of her day went relatively well.

Winn had practically tripped over his own feet in his haste to ask her what she'd been doing that had caused her to be late, and he had looked like he was about to faint before she had even gotten past the part about his great idol getting kidnapped. Meanwhile, everyone else had put the pieces together and called once news that Reactron was no longer a threat to National City with Eve naturally being the first to do so.

Maxwell Lord telling the world that Superman was the one who had saved him ticked her off, she was forced to admit albeit privately, but she refrained from doing anything more than rant about it to first Eve, then Winn and finally Alex. (The fact that he _was_ technically telling the truth and not just saying it as a way to indirectly insult her _again_ was just salt in the wound.)

There was no reason to spare another second thinking about the insufferable CEO of Lord Industries unless it directly involved CatCo business, she told herself, and that was that. Winn would just have to find someone else to torment with his fanboy sessions because she never wanted to see or talk about that man outside of work for the rest of her life.

Ironically, she followed up that resolution by going home and calling someone she had previously sworn she would never speak to again: her cousin.

Kal-El sounded far too happy when he picked up in her opinion but she figured it was kind of understandable and only teased him about it a little before letting it go. Once they got past that bit of awkwardness, it was surprisingly easy for them to just talk and catch up as if nothing had ever happened. Among other things, she complained about Ms Grant and all the sexist coverage she had to deal with while he updated her on his seemingly endless troubles with his self-proclaimed arch-nemesis Lex Luthor.

All in all, it was an easy and pleasant conversation.

Much more so than the one waiting for her when she went to sleep, she was sure.

* * *

“Hey.”

Mon-El barely turned his head to look at her when she appeared in the dream world behind him, and Kara thought she couldn't really blame him considering the stunning view he had created.

Then again, she was almost sure he had been staring off unseeingly into space instead of the triple-sunset that occurred only once every ten cycles on the planet Sinndeph.

“Hey.” To his credit, he did try to give her a smile and pulled her close the moment she sat down next to him on the neatly trimmed tauru grass. “Should I be worried or relieved?”

“Relieved,” she assured him quickly as she squeezed his hand and let the blue-grey energy flow freely through her mind but knew that coming clean as soon as possible was paramount. “Remember that Maxwell Lord guy I told you about? Well, Ben Krull – the man in the powered suit who attacked me – kidnapped Lord because he needed someone to repair his suit. I hatched a plan and with help from Kal-El and the DEO we rescued Lord and stopped Krull.”

“That's good.” He fell silent and studied her carefully. “What else happened?”

She sighed and rested her head against his shoulder, silently wondering once again why she tried to keep anything from him. “This Krull... He was involved in an almost catastrophic incident Kal-El prevented five years ago. His wife died but he survived and he attacked me because he wanted Kal-El to suffer the same pain he felt. Alex... She said he probably won't live for much longer so I feel like... like...”

“You can't blame yourself,” he told her softly but firmly. “Those things in the past were beyond your control and I know you tried your best. There's nothing more you could have done. And before you ask, no, I'm not going to say what you thought I was going to say because the same applies to him too.”

Somehow he could still find new ways to remind her why she loved him so much. “Thank you.”

A hum escaped him as he lowered his head to drop a kiss on her hair. “You're welcome.”

Because she wanted to savour the tranquillity for a while longer, she waited a short stretch of eternity before she spoke up again. “I remember I promised to talk to you about something.”

Almost immediately, the blue-grey energy retreated from her mind, but he at least didn't physically push her away. “Kara-”

“No.” She made sure her tone was gentle but still left no room for argument as she pulled her head away to look him in the eye. “I want- No, _we_ need to talk about this, Mon-El.”

“There's nothing to talk about.” He said it so matter-of-factly that she thought she would have preferred anything else. “I'm not strong like you, Kara. I don't think I ever will be.”

She shook her head. “That's not true.” Unable to meet his disbelieving gaze, she dropped her gaze down to her lap where her free hand rested. “I... The week after I thought I'd lost you for good... I was a wreck. All I did was go through the motions; it barely counted as living. Then there's the time the DEO took Jeremiah in my place. You know better than anyone how badly that affected me. Neither of those instances are what I would consider proof of this 'strength' you believe I possess.”

“But you picked yourself up after those events. In our case, you came back even though you couldn't have known how things would turn out,” he pointed out. “Overcoming a moment of weakness – even one that lasted a whole week – proves your strength more than you realise.”

“It doesn't-” She cut herself off and took a calming breath. “This isn't going anywhere and it's not what I wanted to talk about anyway. I wanted to talk about _you_, not me. Mon-El... You didn't exactly have an easy life back on Daxam even with all the wealth and privilege you were born into. And yet you still turned out better than most other people would have in your position.”

“I wouldn't exactly call an excessive indulgence in mating, alcohol and drugs to be hallmarks of moral integrity, much less strength.”

The memory of Krull's hate-filled eyes resurfaced along with the realisation that he had once been a normal and happily married man before tragedy had struck. “You didn't let everything you experienced make you cruel, and that is worth a lot more than you know. You're stronger than you think you are, Mon-El, and when you finally get to Earth, you're going to realise what I've known for a long time.”

He still looked like he didn't believe her, but at least he didn't continue to argue back so she decided to let the matter go for now. Even so, she silently swore to herself that she would do whatever it took to make him see himself the way she saw him and she would not rest until she achieved that goal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, stay indoors, stay healthy and stay strong. Oh, and I hope you liked the chapter. A lot of stuff happened and I'd like to hear your thoughts on them. And before anyone asks, no, Sam is not Reign here. That Jekyll and Hyde plot was stupid as hell and like all the other stupid as hell writing decisions the show made, I'm choosing to ignore them entirely.


	8. Snare

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The best-laid traps are the ones the intended victims never notice until it's too late.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope everyone's doing okay. Things are probably going to get even worse before they get better but all we can do is keep doing everything we can and need to do in order to get to that point. In the meantime, please continue to take care of yourselves and each other. It's not much but I hope this chapter brings a little light into your day. It was actually the first half of the original Chapter 8 but I decided to split it for storytelling reasons and I figured you guys might like a quicker update whenever possible especially during these times. Hope you enjoy!
> 
> (Also, I would like to admit in advance that I have no real idea what ballroom layouts are actually like and the research I did couldn't give me the answers I was looking for so please excuse me if what I wrote below is inaccurate or even impossible in real life.)

Mending things with Kal-El had been relatively easy in spite of – or perhaps because of – the circumstances that had led to said mending.

It would have happened sooner or later, Kara had known even when she had still been rightfully angry at him; after all, he was the only remaining family she had left and they both had extremely long lives ahead of them – longer than even the ones they would have had without the help of Earth's yellow sun thanks to their Kryptonian physiology.

There were, however, certain parts of the conflict that had led to her freezing him out of her life that persisted even after they went back to being on speaking terms.

One in particular occupied an office down the hallway which was only a few minutes' walk from her own desk at CatCo:

James Olsen.

Having him in her workplace hovering around her and possibly reporting back to Kal-El like some overbearing babysitter had been bad enough; now that she knew he could and would summon her cousin at any moment to 'help' whether she needed it or not, his presence grated on her nerves even more. Sure, she had ended up genuinely needing help with Krull but what about when it was someone who could be talked down instead and Kal-El's appearance would only exacerbate the situation? What then?

The thought of what might have happened if Kal-El had interfered when she had been trying to bring Krrrkxx in peacefully made her shudder.

“Is there any way I can convince _you_ to convince _him_ to go work somewhere else?” she had practically whined when she had brought the topic up during a call to Kal-El days later. “Give me my own signal watch or something; if I need your help, I promise to use it. Just as long as he doesn't have to be around me all the time. You've seen me in the field and I've got the DEO as backup so I'm sure you can agree that I don't need the hand-holding.”

“Well, I _do_ have to admit you're pretty capable for someone who's still relatively new to the superhero gig,” he mused. “If I didn't know better, I'd say you've been getting some professional training.”

In that moment, she was infinitely albeit still a little reluctantly glad to have received that lesson about deceitful truths from Mon-El. “I have, actually. I wouldn't feel so confident about flying around so freely otherwise.”

Thankfully, it worked just like she had intended. “Well, good to know the DEO isn't just throwing you to the wolves then. As for our earlier topic, I think 'all the time' is a bit of an exaggeration considering James is just working in the same company as you and you barely acknowledge him as is,” he pointed out.

“That's already bad enough _since he shouldn't even BE here_. He should be back in _your_ city working at _your_ company with you and Lois!”

The sound of her cousin clearing his throat noisily made her leery. “Well, actually... He had... other reasons for wanting to get out of Metropolis for a while.”

“And those reasons would be...?” she pressed with narrowed eyes even though it was impossible for him to see her expression.

He cleared his throat again which did not in any way allay her suspicions that she was being intentionally kept out of the loop on something. “It's not my place to say but I suppose you could ask him about it yourself...?”

“Ha ha ha. I'm not falling for that, Clark. And he's welcome to go to literally any other city in the world if that's the case; he doesn't have to be _here_.”

“Okay, well, let's just say that he told me he's found a reason to stay in National City at least for the time being. Besides, his old position here at the Daily Planet's been filled and you should know quite well it's not exactly easy to get out of CatCo. Not without suffering in some way to some extent, at least.”

“...Fine. He can stay. But he's just going to have to get used to me not actually wanting him around.”

Even though she had said that, however, Kara knew she couldn't afford to leave this alone or simply ignore it. Instead, she was going to have to address this problem as soon as possible before an avoidable incident occurred. In other words, she was going to have to turn the tables somewhat.

From now on, it was James who was going to be monitored so that he didn't call Kal-El over every time she so much as stubbed her toe on live television... but in order to do that, she was going to need backup.

And she knew just the right people to call.

James didn't suspect a thing when she could finally bring herself to walk into his office and tell him that she wanted to discuss how they were going to work together moving forward.

“Thank you for giving this a chance,” he told her after she had told him where to be that coming Saturday for them to have said discussion, and she couldn't tell if the smugness she heard in his tone was real or the result of her prejudice towards him. “I promise you won't regret it.”

_Oh, I regret it already_, she thought to herself bitterly. “We'll just have to see, won't we?”

He still didn't seem to suspect anything despite her frosty reaction and continued not suspecting anything even until the appointed time arrived and the two of them were seated in a private room at Griffin's Grass-Fed Grill. “I know privacy is important but this seems a bit much,” he commented as he surveyed the restaurant's homely decorations. “How much did booking this room cost you?”

“Don't worry about that; the owner is... a relative of a friend.” By which she meant Eve's uncle but she kept that nugget of information to herself for now. “As I said when I asked you to come here yesterday, we have something important to discuss. But first, we'll have to wait a bit. They should be here anytime soon.”

At long last, it seemingly dawned on him that there was something unusual about this little meeting. “'They'? Who's 'they'?”

As if on cue, her enhanced hearing picked up the sound of two familiar voices speaking to each other in harsh, tense tones at the restaurant's entrance.

“Schott.”

“Teschmacher.”

“I suppose I don't have to tell you how important this is.”

“I'm Kara's friend too, remember? And she asked me to be here. Of course I know.”

“Good. Now... What do you say to a temporary truce?”

“A _what_?”

“Look, Kara's counting on the both of us – emphasis on both – so we're going to have to work together on this from this point forward. The last thing we should be doing is let our... personal issues with one another jeopardise that.”

“Hey, I'm not the one who keeps picking fights for no good reason! Why am I being made to sound like I'm just at fault as you are?”

“Because it _is_ your fault in a way, you idiot! But that's not important right now. Do you agree to the truce or not?”

“...Fine. But I want it to be clear I'm doing this for Kara, not you.”

“So am I. It's a deal then?”

“Deal.”

Oh. Oh wow. Eve and Winn were actually going to try and be civil towards each other as they worked together? If she had known that this was going to happen, maybe she should have done this a lot sooner.

“...ra?”

The sound of her name drew Kara's attention away from the conversation outside and back to her present companion who was currently frowning at her. “They're here,” she told him just as the door opened to reveal her two friends.

To James' credit, he didn't look all that surprised to see Eve and Winn who were currently wearing matching looks of extreme disapproval on their faces.

“Hi guys.” In contrast, Kara was all smiles. (Okay, so maybe she might be enjoying this a little. Too much even, one could say.) “I'm glad you could join us.”

“Kara, what's going on here?” James asked, frown still firmly in place as he looked back at her. “I thought we were-”

“-going to discuss how we're going to be 'working together' from now on?” Kara finished for him as Eve and Winn took their seats. “That's why they're here. Look, James, I've talked things out with my cousin and he's agreed to only come when I ask for help. That means any team ups from now on will be on my terms. Considering the fact that I'm the one who has to deal with the DEO every time I encounter anything outside of the regular crime wheelhouse, I think it's a perfectly reasonable request. What it also means is you can't simply call him here every single time you think I can't handle whatever situation it is I'm in at the moment.”

James' frown deepened. “How exactly would you decide that? Especially if, hypothetically speaking, you were in no condition to give the green light for me to call him?”

“That's where we come in,” Eve answered, looking for all the world as if she was trying to develop heat vision through sheer force of will and literally roast James in his seat.

“Kara told us about that.” Winn's eyes gleamed the way they always did when he was gazing adoringly at the latest Lord Technologies product as he pointed at the signal watch on James' wrist. “Basically I'm going to create something like what you have there for Eve and myself. Think of it as like a... confirmation signal; if Superman doesn't hear our version, he stays put in Metropolis or wherever he happens to be at the moment. That way, you can still call on him if you need his help but when it comes to Supergirl, _we'll_ decide if she needs him to come over or not.”

“You can't be serious about this,” James protested incredulously. “There's no way-”

“I've already gotten him to agree to it,” Kara cut him off smoothly. “Just like he trusted you to use that signal watch wisely, I trust Eve and Winn to do the same and he knows that too. What about you?”

Tense silence followed as James' gaze alternated between the three other occupants of the room before he finally threw his hands in the air. “Fine. But before I do or say anything else, I have a question.”

“What would that be?” Kara asked, genuinely curious.

James gestured at Eve and Winn, a look in his eyes that she couldn't quite place. “Are they the only two friends who know about you? Or is there a boyfriend that's also been brought into the loop on who you really are and everything?”

All at once, the calm that Kara had been trying to maintain throughout these 'negotiations' evaporated into thin air. Was he seriously using this issue to pry details about her personal life – details he in no way had any right to have in the first place – out of her so that he could... what, exactly? Report back to Kal-El as if _he_ deserved to know that just because they were family? What possible reason did he have for wanting that information?

Just as she was about to demand an explanation as to why he was even asking such a question, however, a hand slammed onto the table with the force of a divine thunderbolt. “Kara is waiting for the man of her dreams to fall from the sky and sweep her off her feet,” Eve said flatly as she glared daggers at James... and Winn too, for some unfathomable reason, “and that is all you're getting about this part of her life _which you have no business sticking your nose into at all_.”

Irritation gave way to embarrassment in a heartbeat. “_E-E-Eve!_” Kara stuttered, completely mortified at her best friend's behaviour and desperate to stop her before she said anything more about her biggest secret of all.

The look on Eve's face would have slain an enraged Kaurius where it stood, and Kara was sure she had only survived being on the receiving end of it thanks to her powers. “Are you trying to say I'm lying?” she growled threateningly.

...Evidently Eve had somehow learned Rhea's 'deceitful truth' trick without knowing the woman. Kara didn't know if she was supposed to be impressed or feel incredibly disturbed. “...No...” she squeaked and tried to disappear into her seat.

Despite having secured the complete surrender of her victim, Eve did not seem pleased and jabbed a finger in Kara's face. “You. Outside. _Now._” Then she turned her attention and finger to Winn who instinctively flinched. “You. Start doing your nerd thing with that watch. And _you_,” she finished with James who had not yet learned the danger that was Eve on a warpath and thus just looked mildly amused, “cooperate. _Or else._”

With that, she turned and made for the door without even making sure that Kara followed although Kara wasn't so stupid as to not do as she had been told.

“_Honestly!_” Eve barely waited before the door shut behind them to start reaming into her hapless best friend. “I tell you to solve one problem and then you go double it! _Literally!_”

“I don't even know what you're talking about!” Kara protested against her better judgement.

She immediately regretted it when Eve began imitating a kettle. “_That's part of the problem, isn't it?!_”

Fortunately for Kara, she was saved from being murdered by the sound of someone clearing their throat and turned to find a blonde middle-aged man eyeing them with one raised bushy eyebrow. “Everything okay here?”

“Yes, Uncle Griffin,” Eve sighed as she visibly struggled to calm herself. “Sorry for the ruckus. And don't worry, we'll order something soon, I promise.”

He shrugged casually. “Take your time. Oh, and don't forget to buy a present before next Saturday, got it?”

“Next Saturday?” Kara echoed after Eve had replied in the affirmative to her departing uncle. “What's happening next Saturday?”

A gusty sigh escaped Eve, her earlier ire nowhere to be seen. “You remember my aunt Tally? The one who likes travelling? Well, she's dropping in for a short visit out of the blue before she jets off again to who knows where so my extended family's going to have a sort of belated birthday and welcome home party rolled in one for her while she's in town.”

“That's very nice,” Kara commented sincerely. “Please send her my regards.”

“I will, thanks. But...” Eve sighed again. “It's probably going to take up the whole day so I won't be able to be your plus one for that CatCo event of yours.”

Kara waved her hand dismissively, a smile playing on her lips. “Don't worry about it. There'll be more parties in the future.”

“Yeah, but how many of them are going to have my best friend's face plastered all over every flat surface and screen?” Eve pointed out. “Besides, I was also supposed to be helping you keep an eye on things _and_ James throughout the night since someone with an axe to grind might try to crash the party.”

“It's fine, Eve, don't worry about it. You know I've found the whole thing kind of mortifying from the start and I'll always understand when it comes to family. I'm sure Winn wouldn't mind accompanying me.”

Eve stared at Kara with a look of such utter incredulity that Kara felt like she'd committed some capital offence and now needed to turn herself in to the police. “...What?”

“Sometimes I wonder if you're doing all this on purpose just to torment me,” Eve bit out, her expression somewhere between disbelieving and completely vexed as she all but threw the door to their private room open and slammed it shut behind her.

Utterly confused, Kara could only stare blankly at the door as she tried to figure out why Eve was suddenly so angry at her. “...But I didn't do anything...”

* * *

“The next time you so much as _try_ to say you don't have a shred of Kryptonian arrogance in you, I'm going to remind you of this moment,” Mon-El had gloated the moment Kara had finished telling him about the launch party of the yearly bumper issue of CatCo's flagship magazine Prestige. That alone would have meant nothing... except this time, the magazine had put the spotlight on none other than Supergirl.

“It's not like I wanted this, okay?!” she had protested hotly, although it had been to no avail because every word out of her mouth had only made him laugh even harder.

Not that it mattered whether she had wanted it or not, of course, and damn him for knowing that all too well. After all, she had done everything from book the venue to oversee the placement of every last 'decoration', for lack of a better word, at Ms Grant's command. Nothing less than 'a celebration that will put the Oscars to shame', minus the dozen unnecessary and downright mean comments about half of Hollywood Ms Grant had thrown in when she had outlined her demands.

Having her face – or at least Supergirl's – on every banner, poster and what have you in the ballroom was mortifying enough on its own for someone like her who preferred not to draw attention to herself; the borderline paranoid thought that being in close proximity to said items for an extended period of time would lead to someone realising that she looked an awful lot like National City's resident superhero and subsequently unmasking her would not leave her alone.

Not even Mon-El sobering up and doing his best to reassure her that being present at this party was no riskier than all the time she spent working at CatCo surrounded by screens and pictures of her superhero exploits made much of an impact.

“Okay, look,” he had started in a tone that suggested her panic was starting to affect him even without the help of their connection, “if you're that worried the only thing you can do is minimise the chances of someone noticing you look a lot like Supergirl, you're just going to have to do everything you can to discourage it. That means the glasses aren't going to be enough; you'll have to... I don't know, tie your hair up or something. And _definitely_ don't wear blue _or_ red. Maybe skip yellow as well just in case.”

Because her favourite colour was in fact blue and she didn't exactly have a fantastic wardrobe to begin with, his last word of advice had essentially left her with nothing of her own to wear. Luckily, Eve always had her back in situations like these... although she hadn't seemed all too pleased about it this time for some reason.

“_Do you have ANY idea_,” Eve had raged as she had almost literally torn her wardrobe apart in a way that suggested she was using the search as an excuse to physically vent her frustrations, “_how difficult of a position you're putting me in right now?!_”

“Um-”

“As your best friend, I always want you to look your best,” Eve had continued ranting without letting Kara form even a single word, “but as your best friend, I'm also trying to stop you from making an already bad situation _worse_!”

Somehow Kara had gotten the sense that Eve hadn't been referring to the possibility of being outed as Supergirl but since the real issue had escaped her, she had timidly accepted the dress thrust into her hands, expressed her sincere gratitude and made a hasty escape to the safety of her own apartment.

Now here she was on the dreaded day, a giant bundle of nerves stuffed into a spaghetti-strap green dress on the verge of just having a meltdown in the middle of a large ballroom covered nearly from top to bottom with her face.

_If only Mon-El was here_, she thought forlornly to herself even as she dutifully did yet another scan of the room to make sure that everything was in order. Although she could feel his reassurance faintly brushing her mind through their connection at that very moment, it wasn't the same as having him physically at her side. If he were here right now, he would probably be teasing her endlessly about being quite literally the face of the party, how full of herself she had to be to organise such an event and so on. It would annoy her to no end, of course, but there was no doubt that his teasing would have distracted her from her chaotic state of mind easily enough.

At least she'd managed to make sure that potstickers would be on the menu so that was something. (So what if it sort of counted as abusing the little bit of power she had as the event organiser's underpaid labour? She'd earned this, damn it, and anyone who had an issue with it could go walk blindfolded into the waiting jaws of a ravenous gulojou for all she cared.)

“Hey Kara.” Winn's voice dragged her out of her slightly dark thoughts and she turned to find him giving her a warm grin. “Great job on the party. Hope I'm not late.”

A matching if somewhat bemused smile curved her lips as she eyed his bow-tie and the brand new self-made signal watch he was proudly wearing. (Eve had 'requested' and gotten a more fashionable-looking copy, having successfully argued that there was no reason she had to sacrifice appearance for practicality.) “Hi Winn. No, you're early in fact. And thanks. Both for the compliment and being here tonight.”

He shrugged, and maybe it was the lighting but his cheeks seemed a tiny bit pink. “I didn't have anything to do anyway. Besides, I mean, you needed someone here to be your backup and Eve had to cancel so... yeah.”

“Still.” She gently bumped shoulders with him. “I really appreciate it so consider this me owing you for this.”

“Keira.”

The unexpected sound of Ms Grant once again mangling her name had Kara spinning on her heels to find her boss eyeing her like a shark would a cornered fish. “M-Ms Grant!”

“I hope you're not under the terribly false impression that you can just slack off for the rest of the night,” Ms Grant said in a clipped tone, because apparently helping to put together the entire event did not entitle one to relax during said event even if for a moment, “because if you are, I can certainly help disabuse you of that notion.”

Kara mentally groaned. She had already double-checked everything down to the number of paper napkins available and even gone the extra mile of preparing autographed copies of the magazine last night to be given to the VIP guests; what more did Ms Grant want from her? “Ms Grant, I-”

“Actually, uh, Kara here was in the middle of asking me to help bring out the extra gift bags from the storeroom,” Winn piped up with his best attempt at a chipper smile. “You know, just in case there aren't enough or people lose their first one.”

“And I was going to volunteer to help as well,” James appeared out of nowhere to chime in, his usual suave demeanour matched only by his impeccable suit. “It's all in good hands, Ms Grant. You can leave it to us so please enjoy the party.”

Ms Grant silently eyed the three of them in turn before relaxing ever so slightly as she let out a put-upon sigh. “Very well, James. If you insist.” Then her hawk-like gaze sharpened again as it landed on Kara. “But if anything goes wrong...”

“We'll handle it, don't worry,” James assured her, the only one of them unperturbed by the unspoken threat.

“You'd better.” With those parting words, Ms Grant turned on her stilettos and marched away in the direction of Mayor David who had just passed through the security checkpoint.

“Don't worry about the gift bags,” James said before Kara could even finish turning to face him. “I'll take care of it on my own. It's not that big a deal and I know you've worked really hard on this party so you deserve a break.”

Kara blinked, momentarily stunned speechless. “...Thank you, James. That's very kind of you.” Maybe she had been too harsh on him before this just because of his part in Kal-El's overbearing big cousin routine.

James shrugged casually. “Don't mention it. Now if you'll excuse me, I believe I have some gift bags to fetch.”

“Come find me if you really need help, okay?” she called out as he started to walk away from them. “I _am_ supposed to be overseeing this party, after all.”

* * *

Across town, Eve was in the middle of eating some belated birthday cake when she was suddenly seized with the urge to strangle her best friend.

* * *

The smile on James' face widened. “Sure thing.”

“Well then.” Privately deciding that perhaps she could come to accept James' presence at CatCo after all, Kara turned to face Winn only to find him looking a little... Actually, it was hard to place his expression but it wasn't very positive in any case. “Winn? Is everything okay?”

That snapped him out of his inexplicable mood, and he gave her a lopsided and somewhat unconvincing smile. “Yeah! Yeah, everything's... everything's fine. I just... got lost in thought for a moment there, I guess.”

“Oh.” Even though she didn't really believe him, she decided not to pry since he didn't appear to want to discuss it. “Anyway, thanks for the save back there. I guess I owe you two times over now.”

All at once, Winn's entire demeanour changed, and this time she was almost sure his cheeks really were pink as he coughed into his hand although he didn't seem to be sick. Strange. “Well, I mean... If you're free, you could, um... repay that debt right now? Say, by dancing with me?”

* * *

The glass in Eve's hand nearly cracked as her sixth sense told her that she had to murder Winn the next time she laid eyes on him.

* * *

There was nothing that required her immediate attention and since James had taken over the ad hoc task that had been created to save her from Ms Grant, she didn't see any reason to refuse. “Sure. Just let me grab a bite first if that's okay? I don't remember the last time I ate.”

“No worries,” Winn chuckled. “I know better than to get between you and food.”

“Hey! I'm not _that_ bad!” she protested playfully as she lightly swatted his arm.

He laughed and backed away with his hands raised in surrender. “If you say so.”

She scowled at him but let him escape; there were potstickers waiting for her, and she knew first-hand thanks to having done the taste-testing herself that they were absolutely divine.

What she failed to take into account was how much amusement Rao derived from her suffering.

“Maxwell Lord. Why am I not surprised to see you here? And all dressed up in your big boy suit, even.”

The bite of potsticker that she had just swallowed threatened to get coughed out with enough force to blast a hole in the floor.

Sure enough, when she turned in the direction of Ms Grant's voice she was greeted with the sight of Lord Technologies' CEO accompanied by his personal assistant and talking to her boss.

What was he doing here?! He certainly hadn't been on the guest list! And she would know since she'd sent out the invitations herself! On top of that, he _hated_ Supergirl! So _why_?!

“Cat Grant. You're talking to the same guy who launched a top-selling tablet hours after surviving an avalanche on Everest. Getting into a party he wasn't invited to is a breeze in comparison to that. I'm hurt, by the way. You always send me one.”

“And you always never show up. I made a conscious decision to save a tree this time especially since I've heard you're not fond of the main topic of this year's bumper issue.”

“Oh come now, Cat. You know you're one of the few people in this city I actually like talking to. It's just that I'm-”

“-always busy playing with your toys.”

“I'd hardly call National City's first magnetic levitation train system that can go up to 500 kilometres an hour and offers clean, affordable transportation as opposed to gas guzzlers a mere 'toy'. But enough foreplay; care to dance?”

“I thought you said he wasn't on the guest list!”

Winn's accusatory yet still excited hiss dragged Kara's attention away from the sight of Ms Grant twirling around the dance floor with Maxwell Lord. “He _wasn't_! I don't know why he's here!”

It was a wonder if he had even heard her response because his eyes were trained on his idol. “Do you think he'll give me an autograph if I ask?”

_Traitor_, she thought a little bitterly to herself but only allowed a weary sigh to escape her lips. “Maybe after he's done dancing with Ms Grant.”

“Awesome!” His expression suddenly became one of horror as he frantically patted his pockets. “Oh god, I don't have anything for him to autograph. _I don't even have a pen!_”

She let out another sigh and gestured in the direction of a table pushed up against the wall off to the side. “There should be some complimentary notepads and pens over there.”

“Thanks, Kara! Oh!” He skidded to a stop just as he was about to dash off. “Dance with me after that?”

“Yeah, sure,” she replied with wry bemusement.

“You must be Kara Danvers.”

For the second time that night, Kara was surprised by an unexpected voice behind her, and this time she turned around to find Samantha Arias studying her with a faint smile. “Y-Yes, that would be me, uh...” she stammered, suddenly unsure if she was supposed to know Samantha's name or not.

Luckily for her, Samantha saved her the trouble. “Samantha Arias,” she introduced herself as she stuck her hand out. “I work for Maxwell Lord.”

A hesitant but still genuine smile spread across Kara's face as she shook Samantha's hand. Hopefully the woman wouldn't notice her physical resemblance to the superhero who had shown up at her workplace not too long ago to investigate her boss' kidnapping – incidentally the same superhero whose face was everywhere around them. “It's nice to meet you, Samantha.”

“Likewise. Good job on the party, by the way. It's too bad I couldn't bring my daughter Ruby; she's a big fan of Supergirl so she would've loved this. But then again I expected no less from you.”

Only good manners kept Kara from gaping like a landed fish. Exactly how much did Samantha know about her? “Uhhh, wh-what do you mean?”

The corners of Samantha's lips twitched. “Don't sell yourself short; you're earning a name for yourself in our little part of the working world. After all, not everyone can last as the legendary Cat Grant's personal assistant for as long as you have without being good at their job on a regular basis.”

Kara flushed a little despite herself, unused to getting compliments to her face about her work. “Thank you. It means a lot considering... well, you work for Maxwell Lord. Between the two of us, I feel like you're the one with the more impressive résumé.”

“Yes, well.” Samantha turned her head and stared off into the distance, no doubt lost in thoughts of the past. “Mr Lord gave me a chance when no one else would so... I guess you could say that doing the best I can is the least I can do to repay that debt.”

So Maxwell Lord had a heart after all although Kara supposed she shouldn't be surprised considering he had volunteered himself to Mr Krull so that one of his employees would not be kidnapped instead. _Guess he just reserves his unwarranted animosity for me then_, she thought sullenly to herself.

As if to prove her point in some way, that was the exact moment her enhanced hearing picked up the voices of Mr Lord and Ms Grant... and what she heard filled her with equal amounts of irritation and trepidation.

“So tell me. How did you manage to get an exclusive with Supergirl?”

“What can I say? Girl knows power when she sees it. She flew right to me.”

“Aren't you going to tell me how you pulled it off? Or am I going to have to get sneaky?”

“You're very sexy, Max, but as I recall, you're big on promises but not much else when it comes to these things. Besides, you should know better than to think I would ever reveal either my sources or my secrets.”

“Sneaky it is then.”

Kara barely had time to wonder what he could have meant by that when her attention was pulled away by the crackling noise of the security guards' walkie talkies followed by panicked conversations. Two words in particular stood out: “suspected bomb”.

“Excuse me,” she told Samantha, “I just remembered there's something I have to do.”

“Don't let me keep you,” Samantha replied with a smile and a wave.

With a final parting bow, Kara spun on her heels and headed straight for the door that would lead to the kitchen. It was a good thing she had anticipated trouble and prepared accordingly by stashing her supersuit somewhere secure but still easily accessible enough – one of the perks of being the event organiser – so all she had to do was get to it in the shortest amount of time possible.

Along the way, she conveniently ran into Winn and James. “I need your help,” she blurted out in a rush. “There's a suspected bomb on the premises so can you two please help the guards do whatever needs to be done without causing any panic while I go change?”

The two men glanced at each other, and an unspoken agreement was made between them before they turned back to face her with matching expressions of complete seriousness. “Leave it to us.”

“Thanks, guys.” Without wasting another second, she slipped inside the kitchen, nimbly dodged the staff still obliviously working and continued on until she reached the nearest stairwell which was fortunately devoid of security cameras. A burst of superspeed later and she was flying back into the ballroom as Supergirl.

“Supergirl!” the hotel's chief security officer, a woman by the name of Ling called out the moment she spotted Kara. “Over here!”

“What's the situation?” Kara asked the moment she was close enough, her attention split between Ling and the unsettled murmuring of the crowd. At least no one was panicking and making things worse; that was something to be grateful for.

“One of the guards was doing a routine sweep of the storerooms when they found a suspicious backpack. After they verified that it didn't belong to any of the staff, they sounded the alarm,” Ling explained. “We've called the police and everyone's been told to keep clear of that storeroom but I don't know if evacuating the ballroom is worth potentially sparking a panic.”

“Call for an evacuation but tell everyone it's because of a gas leak,” Kara urged. “Better to be safe than sorry. I'll go check it out in the meantime and see if I can solve the situation without putting anyone else at risk. Which storeroom is it?”

“Up on the mezzanine floor. There's only one there,” Ling explained, and Kara flew off without wasting another second.

A quick scan with her X-ray vision was all it took for her to not only locate the backpack but also realise that they had nothing to worry about; all she could see inside were plastic boxes arranged in a way that suggested it was meant to resemble a crude bomb at first glance and nothing more. Someone out there had a sick sense of humour, it seemed.

“It's okay,” she told Ling when she came back down to the ground floor which was starting to empty slowly but surely. “It's just a false alarm but you can still tell the police to collect evidence when they arrive since I'm sure they'll want to have a word with whoever pulled this stunt.”

“I'll do that. Thank you, Supergirl,” Ling breathed a relieved sigh and gave Kara a smile full of gratitude.

“Just doing my part to keep National City safe,” Kara replied warmly. “Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go.”

Thankful that no disaster had been about to unfold, Kara failed to notice the hawk-like gaze that followed her as she flew away... and continued to track her every move after she had rejoined the party as Kara Danvers.

* * *

“That is not the face of someone who had a nice party, and I should know since I'm from, as someone once put it, 'the planet of partiers',” was how Mon-El chose to greet her when she returned to the dream world.

Kara's grimace became more pronounced as she plopped herself flat down next to him on the blanket he was lying on, too tired to even appreciate their current surroundings. On a normal day, being on a boat in the middle of the Aurillien Sea on the planet Idarros would be enough to put a smile on her face. How could it not, with its breathtaking lavender-coloured waters and fantastical aquatic wildlife which Mon-El would have come up to the side of the boat or leap gracefully through the air for her enjoyment alone? However, she had just endured what felt like ten years of Ms Grant complaining about everything from her party being disrupted to Supergirl not sticking around to autograph her magazines and it was going to take more than a whalnak signing its melodious courtship song to improve her mood. “I did not have a good time, no.”

He let out a consoling hum as he reached an arm out to pull her closer. “What happened? Did Ms Grant force you to work throughout the whole thing?”

“No, it wasn't that.” Despite having gone to sleep all geared up for a rant session, she found herself deciding that indulging herself in all the comfort he was willing to offer her was a better use of her time. “A lot of things happened. Maxwell Lord showed up even though he wasn't invited-”

“The nerve of him.”

“-and then a security guard found what he thought was a bomb-”

“How rude.”

“-but when I showed up as Supergirl I found out it was a fake-”

“Even ruder.”

“-so I went back to the party as Kara Danvers only to have to listen to Ms Grant complain on and on about how Supergirl didn't stay and 'give her party a boost'.”

“Demanding as usual.”

“And because of all that, I barely got to enjoy any of the potstickers I worked so hard to get on the menu.”

“The greatest tragedy of all.”

She snaked a hand under his shirt so that her pinch would have its maximum effect and was rewarded with a flinch and a grunt. “I'll have you know they were really good potstickers.”

“Fine, fine. I'm sorry you didn't get to eat every single last one of them.” His tone and the blue-grey energy swirling in her head still radiated mirth, however, tempting her to pinch him again. “You must have enjoyed some part of it though, right? It can't have been all bad.”

Kara pursed her lips. “Well, James was surprisingly nice – he even helped get me out of a bit of trouble with Ms Grant early in the party – so... I don't know. It might be possible for us to work together properly given enough time. I got to meet Samantha – as Kara Danvers, I mean – so that was one upside to Lord showing up. Oh,” she exclaimed as she remembered Winn. “Winn helped me out too and I was supposed to dance with him to pay him back for that but we never did because of... well, everything.”

“His loss.” Suddenly, Mon-El shifted onto his side so that he could look down and meet her gaze, jostling her out of her comfortable position in the process much to her annoyance. “Wait, you're not trying to make me jealous again, are you?”

“Don't be silly. Winn is a very good friend and I'd never use him like that.” Then she paused and pulled her hand back as she eyed him critically. “Why, what would you have done if I'd said yes?”

That familiar grin of his lazily stole across his face. “Well, first I'd say that I sincerely pity him for missing out on such a great privilege. Then I'd say it's a crime that no one else asked you to dance aside from him. And third...”

“...Go on...” she prodded him, curious and just a little hopeful.

“Well...” he drawled as he reached for her free hand and entwined their fingers, palms pressed together as the blue-grey energy mimicked his physical actions, “I would volunteer to correct this great injustice myself. Provided you consider me worthy of such an honour, of course.”

“_Yes._” She barely let him finish before she scrambled to her feet, tugging him up along with her much to his undisguised amusement. “May I?”

“Go ahead,” he told her, and stayed quiet as he let her swap out their fantastical surroundings for the ballroom where the party had been held... although that didn't last for long. “Why do I feel like something's missing?”

“I'm not recreating the decorations,” she huffed with pink cheeks, her jubilant mood from earlier instantly replaced with annoyance. “It's embarrassing.”

“But then it would be inaccurate,” he pointed out with feigned innocence, and if the blue-grey energy in her head could audibly laugh, she had no doubt it would be doing just that.

She used her free hand to poke him painfully in the chest although he was unfazed. “Not. Doing. It. Understood?”

He let out a very theatrical sigh even as he deftly dodged her attempt to kick him in the shin. “All right, all right. Shall we?”

“Wait.” The word had not even left her lips before he had transformed his usual clothes into the now familiar grey formal attire of Daxamite royalty. “Not that.”

“But this is what I always wear when we dance,” he said, his confusion evident in his voice and expression. “You don't like it any more?”

“It's not that,” she corrected him with a smile and a shake of her head. “I just thought that since this party was on Earth, we should... well, dress appropriately this time.”

One of his eyebrows arched. “You want me to go native?”

“Apparently someone's forgetting that he'll have to get used to wearing Earth clothes when he's on Earth or he won't blend in,” she chastised him playfully.

“Or I could just introduce those primitive humans to proper fashion. Daxamite fashion, of course.”

“Of course.” Deciding to adjust her tactics, Kara batted her eyes at him in that particular way she knew would get him to bend to her will. “Please?”

Mon-El narrowed his in response. “Cheating as usual, I see. But fine.” His brow furrowed as he stared down at his clothes in intense concentration, and slowly his Daxamite clothes transformed into a human-style suit in the same shade of grey while a powder blue shirt and matching tie materialised to go with it. “Did I get it right?”

“It's perfect.” Her hands reached up to needlessly adjust his tie as she willed her sleepwear to turn into the dress she had worn a few hours ago although she elected to keep her hair down.

The way she could feel his gaze sweep her body from head to toe made her blood warm. “It truly is a crime that no one aside from Winn asked you to dance much less paid you a simple compliment.”

“You always did say the humans were a bit blind,” she commented idly, her attention already focused on more important things as music filled the ballroom. “Dance with me?”

He lifted her hand and pressed a soft lingering kiss to her palm. “It would be my honour.”

“I must confess I probably wouldn't have been able to hold myself back from telling everyone you were with me if I'd been there with you,” he murmured when their dancing had wound down to simply swaying on the spot with their foreheads pressed together, his arms loosely wrapped around her waist and hers around his neck.

She let out a soft snort but didn't bother to pull away. “I'm not surprised.”

“Well, we _have_ known each other for some time now after all...”

“I think 'some time' is a bit of an understatement.”

“Maybe. And you should know I've even figured out what I would've said.”

“Oh Rao. Do I want to know?”

“It goes something like this: 'Attention, everyone! I would like to make a quick and simple announcement which is that this amazing beautiful woman next to me is in fact with me – willingly, even. Yes, it is amazing, yes, we are immeasurably happy and yes, your jealousy is most appropriate. That is all. Now you may carry on with the rest of your evening while I almost exclusively enjoy her wonderful company.'”

“Good thing you weren't really there then because I would've kicked your ass on the spot for pulling a stunt like that. And yes, I _will_ kick your ass if I so much as suspect you'll try that when you're finally on Earth.”

“But Daxamite culture compels me-”

“Oh no. You're not getting away with that excuse. No means no. Got it?”

“Bossy and demanding as always. By the way, your threat would hold a lot more weight if I didn't still win most of our fights without having to resort to cheating.”

“Who was it again who taught me that I should use every tool and trick at my disposal to emerge victorious?”

“Point taken.”

“...If you promise not to make any embarrassing speeches,” Kara breathed the words softly as if afraid speaking any louder would invite calamity, “I'd like you to accompany me to any and all future events like this after you reach Earth.”

Mon-El pulled away just so he could press a kiss to her forehead as the blue-grey energy weaved comfortingly around her thoughts, pulsing slowly in time with the music. “A small price to pay for such an honour.”

“So it's a promise then? On both counts?”

“Yes, it's a promise.” A pause followed. “Although...”

“Hmm?”

“It doesn't have to be _just_ dancing for the entire night, does it?”

The slyness in his voice made it clear where he was going with this, but she chose to be coy. “What do you have in mind?”

When his lips brushed her forehead this time, she could practically feel the grin playing on them. “I could tell you... but I do believe there are other ways to show my appreciation for that dress you're wearing...”

She pulled her head back to meet his dark gaze with her own. “Then show me.”

“As you command,” he chuckled before capturing her lips in a searing kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trouble's afoot and someone's unfortunately oblivious to it... but as they say, ignorance is bliss. Except when it isn't like in this case but it's not really Kara's fault. Anyway, hope you enjoyed the chapter and please stay home, stay safe and stay strong. We may all be spread across the entire world but we're in this together and we're going to get through this together as well. On that note, I barely use my Tumblr but if you want to talk about anything, don't hesitate to drop me a message there.


	9. Friction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The closer they are, the more it hurts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys. Chances are most of you are still in some kind of lockdown/quarantine like me so I hope you and your loved ones are all still holding up okay. All I have to offer is this new chapter and... well... I'll just leave it at that. (You'll understand what I mean.) Also, just in case it gets passed over, you might want to pay attention to the author's note at the end. Why? No particular reason...
> 
> PS: I know two people in particular who might enjoy this chapter more than most so... hope you like this one, zrnas and Peggystormborn.

On Krypton, they had celebrated the Day of Glorious Light – a day where every Kryptonian was supposed to give thanks to Rao for all the blessings he had bestowed upon them. The celebration would begin with a speech followed by a recitation of key passages from the Book of Rao by the Voice of Rao, the head of the Religious Guild at the break of dawn. Once the broadcast had ended, everyone would go to their local temple and present an offering of their choice before conducting their prayers under the watchful eye of the Word of Rao, the cleric overseeing the temple.

When the sun was at its highest point in the day, families would gather for a quiet meal that had to include freshly-baked plain ruem. The day would end with one last prayer led by the Voice of Rao as the sun set, and each Kryptonian was expected to spend the night in quiet contemplation. (“So basically the epitome of boring,” Mon-El had stated flatly and gotten smacked for in retaliation when Kara had told him about the celebration.)

On Daxam, Mon-El's people had had individual celebrations for each of their gods and goddesses on top of the grand one honouring the entire pantheon which coincided with Ascension Day, the celebration marking the founding of the kingdom of Sard under the rule of Vell Or and Lind-Rel. Each celebration was held on a day with great significance such as Yuda being honoured on the day Lind-Rel's ancestor had supposedly been granted the goddess' favour and Kor-Op on the first day of harvest season.

Naturally, the activities of each day would have a heavy focus on whatever it was the god or goddess presided over although other forms of merriment would also be a part of the festivities. (“In other words, every excuse to throw a party,” she had summarised in an accusatory tone, and his only response had been to grin unrepentantly.)

On Earth – or at least in America and some other countries –, the humans had Thanksgiving which in contrast had no religious meaning. Instead, it had some historical significance which made her rather uncomfortable especially when she compared it to the events that had led to the great war between Krypton and Daxam.

But the Danvers celebrated it, and considering the spirit of the holiday she thought it would be poor manners on her part to refuse to take part in it with her adoptive family for any reason.

Besides, it was very hard to resist all that delicious food and there was always enough to feed a small army so it would be a waste if she didn't have at least some of it.

Since moving out of the Danvers home, celebrating any family occasion had become an exercise in logistics and finances. Nevertheless, both sisters always managed to plan and scrape together enough money to afford a trip back to Midvale and spend as much time as they could spare with Eliza. Things became easier after Kara and Alex both ended up being permanent residents of National City and were able to just align their work schedules, load their bags into one car and be on their way without too much fuss.

This year, however, Eliza suggested that she come over to National City instead of them returning to Midvale not just for Thanksgiving but all future celebrations.

“Eliza, you really don't have to,” Kara said with a frown aimed at her computer screen as she cradled her phone between her head and shoulder. “Alex and I don't mind the drive; we've told you that before.”

“Yes, I know that very well,” Eliza replied patiently, “but the situation is very different now. For one, I don't want to be the reason Supergirl is nowhere to be found if there's an emergency in the city that could really use her immediate help.”

Guilt began gnawing away at Kara to such an extent that her fingers which had been furiously typing away at her keyboard stilled. “Eliza, I-”

Eliza clicked her tongue in a way that Kara had learned as a child meant she was supposed to keep quiet and listen. “Don't apologise, Kara. I'm making this decision mainly because of you, yes, but that's not the only reason and it's certainly not something you should feel guilty about even in the slightest. You know I love having my two girls home but sometimes it's good to get out of Midvale once in a while for something besides work and this is the perfect excuse.”

Kara let out a soft sigh, painfully aware that there was no arguing back. “All right, in that case-”

“If you're worried about where I'm going to stay, don't because I've already settled that.” Once again, Eliza cut her adoptive daughter off gently but firmly. “I _can_ book a hotel room without needing help or money from either of you, you know.”

“Okay, okay,” Kara caved as she let out yet another gusty sigh full of resignation. “Is there anything you're actually going to let Alex and I do?”

Eliza's warm laughter filled the line. “Well, I can't exactly host Thanksgiving in a hotel room so there's still the matter of the venue. You and Alex can flip a coin and see whose apartment to use; I'll bring what I can and you two buy the rest. How about that?”

“This suggestion sounds a lot like those times you 'suggested' we clean our room...”

“It's just the nostalgia talking, dear. Now discuss this issue with your sister and let me know after you two have made a decision.”

“I'm not sure if you're aware of it but your expression right now is a weird mix of happy, exasperated and completely stressed.”

Startled by the unexpected and familiar voice, Kara nearly crushed her phone as she was putting it away. When she jerked her head up, she found none other than Eve standing in front of her desk as if she had every right to be there. “Eve?! Why are- No wait, how are you even here?! How did you get past security?!”

“It's called the benefits of being the daughter of a self-made businessman whose company is built on forming meaningful connections with potential clients, partners and customers,” Eve said airily. “You learn a thing or two that proves useful in everyday life.”

Kara narrowed her eyes suspiciously as her keen eyes spotted the telltale traces of sugar powder on Eve's hands. “...You bribed the security guards with doughnuts, didn't you?” she accused even though she already knew the answer.

“I'll admit they helped sweeten the deal, if you'll pardon the pun, but you really only have yourself to blame,” Eve countered smoothly. “All it took was some time – although admittedly much longer than I expected – to establish that we're the best of friends and since they're super fond of you, it was only inevitable that I would one day succeed in convincing them to give me a lifetime visitor's pass. Well, as long as you work here anyway.”

Flabbergasted by her best friend's audacity on multiple levels, Kara could only sputter incoherently for a handful of seconds.

“What're _you_ doing here?” Winn's voice cut through the static filling her head, and both women turned to find him staring at Eve with wary suspicion. “You haven't decided to start working here or something, have you?”

Eve crossed her arms in front of her chest, the very picture of someone who was ready for a fight. “Why, would you have an issue with it if I did?”

Like almost every other time, Winn's survival instincts kicked in and he backed down. “...No...”

A faint satisfied smile crossed Eve's face before she redirected her attention towards Kara. “Anyway, I came here to pick you up for lunch at Noonan's. Since Thanksgiving's around the corner, I figure we should have our annual talk about whether you'll be taking Streaky back with you to Midvale or you want me to take care of him while you're away.”

“Actually, there won't be any need for that this year,” Kara supplied but before she could elaborate, Ms Grant began yelling her name in a way that suggested she was going to get fired if she didn't respond immediately. “Oh god... I'll tell you more over lunch, okay? You guys go ahead first and get a table; I'll head over once I settle whatever it is Ms Grant wants with me.”

Even though it taken only a couple of seconds to get from her desk to Ms Grant's office, Kara still found herself being studied as if she had arrived an hour late and looking like a fashion reject. “Keira, unless I'm misremembering the job description outlined in your contract, I don't pay you to gossip with your colleagues all day long.”

“Sorry, Ms Grant, they were just...” Ms Grant's gaze sharpened and Kara decided to just be grateful her boss hadn't noticed that Eve didn't actually work at CatCo. “Never mind. Um, what do you need?”

Thankfully, Ms Grant decided not to start one of her long lectures about the many problems she had with millennials and got down to business. “Al Gore is going to be in town to give a speech at the National City Climate Change Convention and has expressed interest in giving CatCo an exclusive so I want you to book a table for two at Fisher's Finest on Saturday.”

It took a few seconds for Kara to realise why the date seemed familiar. “But Ms Grant... That's the night of Carter's school play,” she pointed out in slight alarm. Ms Grant's young son – her only child after her first son Adam from her first marriage had died of a drug overdose years ago – was a sweet kid unlike his deceased half brother who apparently had been nothing short of deplorable in life. Kara had a soft spot for the kid and always did her best to talk to him whenever she had to pick him up from school or watch over him while he waited for his mother to finish work for the day. If Ms Grant didn't show up after having promised to be there, he was going to be devastated.

To her credit, Ms Grant paused for a moment before she resumed typing away at her keyboard. “Carter's a big boy. He'll understand.”

The sensible thing would be to let it be and just do as she had been told but thoughts of Thanksgiving and her personal situation filled Kara with a level of courage she didn't think was possible when faced with her tyrannical boss. “With all due respect, Ms Grant, it doesn't matter if he'll understand or not. I think you should keep your word and go see his play instead of having dinner with Mr Gore.”

Ms Grant stopped typing entirely to give Kara her full attention, and her expression could only be described as the visage of death itself. “Excuse me?”

Her survival instincts screamed at her to back down but Kara had always been a little too headstrong for her own good as Mon-El liked to say. “Ms Grant, nobody knows what they have until it's gone so please... Don't take the time you have with Carter for granted. Don't waste every opportunity you have to be with him especially if it involves something important to him. You'll never forgive yourself if you do and I'm sure Mr Gore will understand if you tell him why.”

A beat of silence followed during which Ms Grant scrutinised Kara in a way she had never done before. “And what makes you such an authority on these things that you feel equipped to advise me on them?”

Kara briefly considered feeding Ms Grant some nonsense about reading an inspirational book over the weekend to avoid sharing things she didn't tell just about anyone, much less her usually unsympathetic boss. Only the awareness that doing so would get her into unimaginable amounts of trouble and possibly even fired stopped her... although that didn't make things any easier. “I'm adopted. My birth parents... They passed away in a fire when I was twelve.”

Something vaguely resembling surprise flickered across Ms Grant's face. “Oh. I'm... I'm sorry. I wasn't aware of that.”

It was Kara's turn to be surprised at the reaction she received. An apology from Ms Grant? Was the world about to end? “N-No, it's fine,” she stammered as her mind reeled. “I mean, I still miss them and it still hurts when I think about them but... but I love my adoptive family too. So. Um.”

“I see.” Ms Grant continued scrutinising Kara quite intently but there seemed to be something else – something almost... soft – in her usually steely gaze. “Well then. Leave my schedule for Saturday intact; I'll call Al directly and see when he's free for a sit-down.”

Kara could not help the elated smile that spread across her face. She'd done it; she'd actually done it. Carter was going to be so happy and so would Ms Grant both when she saw the play and remembered the night in the future. “All right, Ms Grant. Is there anything else I can get you?”

“My lunch.”

“Already on the way, Ms Grant.”

“Very well. You may go.” With a dismissive wave of her hand, Ms Grant silently commanded Kara to leave her office, her attention already fully focused on her computer screen once again.

Finally free, Kara had to stop herself from breaking into a run as she retrieved her bag from her desk and made a beeline for the lift like all her other colleagues. Along the way, she nearly ran headlong into none other than James.

“Whoa there.” James grinned as he held his hands up in surrender. “I'm unarmed, I swear.”

Her cheeks pinked in embarrassment. “Sorry, James. I guess I shouldn't be rushing around. Even if it _is_ lunchtime.” Then she realised that he was heading in the opposite direction as everyone else and frowned. “You're not going for lunch?”

“Not just yet,” he said and nodded in the direction of Ms Grant's office. “Your boss wants to talk to me about when I'll be able to get her another interview with Supergirl. I think she's still a little miffed that Lois kind of out-scooped her about the reason Superman and Supergirl taking so long to acknowledge each other being due to that 'secret mission' that kept Supergirl out of the spotlight until recently.”

Of course. Kara didn't know whether to laugh or sigh. They'd collectively decided that it was safer for Lois to handle their little cover story but it was clear that Ms Grant had taken it personally. “I guess we should have seen this coming.”

“Yeah, I guess so. Anyway.” He cleared his throat meaningfully. “Do you think Supergirl would be interested in giving CatCo another interview sometime in the near future?”

The corners of Kara's lips curled upwards. This was a pleasant change from the first time where he'd acted like she owed him an automatic 'yes'. “Well, I'm not sure if she can commit to a specific date but barring a world-ending catastrophe, I don't see why she'd refuse.”

He smiled back. “Duly noted. Oh yeah, will you and Alex be leaving for Midvale early or just in time to arrive for Thanksgiving?”

“Oh, we're not going back to Midvale this year. Eliza's coming to National City for a change.” James was admittedly not the first person she'd thought of sharing this news with but she figured he had to know eventually and why not now?

“You're all going to celebrate Thanksgiving here?” For some reason, he was not just surprised but also intrigued and his smile seemed just a little different in a way she couldn't quite place. “I've been hearing stories about Eliza's chocolate pecan pie for years so is there a chance I could get a seat at the table?”

She turned to stare in bafflement at him as they both stood in front of the lift doors which opened to let people in and out. “You're not going back to Metropolis to spend Thanksgiving with your family?”

Her simple question caused his smile to vanish, and he was suddenly incapable of meeting her gaze. “I'm not particularly keen on the idea for... personal reasons.”

A mixture of confusion and mild annoyance filled her but she did her best not to let it affect her tone. “James, whatever those reasons might be, they can't be big enough to stop you from spending time with your family. I mean... You know my story. If I could spend just one more ordinary day with my parents, I'd seize that opportunity in a heartbeat. You have so many days – ordinary _and_ special – that you get to spend with them and all you have to do is catch a flight. Don't squander that. Please.”

Another wave of people passed them to get on and off the lift as James looked at her with an expression she could not for the life of her decipher. Before she could wonder about it any longer, however, he closed his eyes and hung his head as his shoulders slumped slightly. “Yeah. I guess I can't argue with that.”

Kara beamed, happy that she had managed to get through to him. If she was being honest with herself, she wondered why she even had to convince him of this. Maybe she was being a little uncharitable but it wasn't as if he'd been in National City long enough to really put down roots so why would he be so eager to stay? For a moment, she was tempted to ask but a quick glance at the nearby clock put a swift end to that. “Oh god, I have to go. Eve and Winn are waiting for me. But I'm really happy to hear you're making the right decision, James. See you later!”

Without another word, she darted into the lift before the doors closed, carefully squishing herself in with her fellow lunch-seeking colleagues in the process. By the time she reached Noonan's and spotted Eve and Winn, all thoughts of James' peculiar behaviour had fled her mind. “Hey guys. Sorry I'm late.”

Eve waved the apology away. “It's fine. If it's all right, we went ahead and ordered for you since you were taking so long so our food should be coming soon.”

“Thanks, Eve,” Kara replied gratefully as she sat down and took a generous gulp of the iced lemon tea Eve slid over to her.

“What did Ms Grant want anyway?” Winn quizzed. “It wasn't just to... I don't know, complain about something again, right? I mean, I know her mother was in town recently but I thought she'd gotten that rant session out of her system by now...”

A bemused smile tugged at the corners of Kara's lips. Winn would know about that rant session all too well considering he'd had the misfortune of being stuck in Ms Grant's office fixing her computer while she had unloaded her latest mother-related grievances on Kara. “No, it wasn't that, thank god. She... well... Let's just say she was going to make what I knew would be a decision she would regret in the future and I talked her out of it.”

Matching looks of stunned disbelief formed on the faces of her audience of two at that. “Seriously?” Winn squawked. “You're telling me that you actually got Ms Grant to change her mind about something? Like, with words and stuff?”

Eve rolled her eyes. “Unless you're suggesting that Kara blackmailed her boss or something to that effect, I'm pretty sure that the answer to your question is 'yes'.”

“It's just hard to believe, okay? Geez, you never let up...” Winn grumbled under his breath.

Fortunately, Kara's prayers for a peaceful intervention were answered in the form of their food arriving, and she took advantage of the break to change topics. “Anyway, as I was saying before Ms Grant called me into her office, there's no need to worry about Streaky this year because Eliza's coming to National City to celebrate Thanksgiving with Alex and I.”

“Really?” Pleasantly surprised, Eve leaned in while Winn perked up. “Why the big change?”

Kara leaned in herself as she glanced furtively around and lowered her voice just in case anyone might choose to listen in on their conversation. “Well, she thought this would help avoid any... issues with Supergirl not being around if she's needed.”

“It bothers you a little,” Eve observed.

Unable to deny it, Kara just slumped in her seat and let out a sigh. “I mean, she said she's fine with it and all that but knowing she's making this decision because of me...” She shook the melancholy threatening to creep up on her and directed a bright smile at Winn. “Anyway, what are your plans for Thanksgiving?”

It was a bit of a sensitive subject considering she was aware of his situation but thankfully he picked up on the fact that she desperately needed a diversion and didn't take offence. “Yeah, uh... orphan Thanksgiving. I mean literally; it's just going to be me, some Thai food and a nice long Orphan Black marathon.”

A frown creased Kara's brow. “That's no way to celebrate Thanksgiving.” Then an idea occurred to her. “Hey-”

“Then it's decided.” Eve's even voice cut Kara off, causing both Kara and Winn to look at her in surprise. “You're coming over to my house. No arguments. Call it a Friendsgiving if you want but I'm not going to just let you eat mass-produced food from a box and keep your eyes glued to your TV screen for hours on Thanksgiving if I can help it.”

Kara's eyes bulged, as did Winn's, and it was hard to say which of them was more shocked at Eve's declaration. “...Uh... You don't have to do that,” Winn ventured, the first one to regain his ability to speak by some miracle.

Eve shrugged casually and took a sip of her drink. “We're nominally friends thanks to Kara and I'm sure she would love for us to get along better even when she's not around. As long as you don't make a fool of yourself in front of my parents, I don't see why you can't be my guest.”

“That's... um... That's really nice of you.” Winn's expression was an interesting mix of dumbstruck surprise and touched. “I'd be happy to come.”

Kara's grin was so wide it hurt, and she had to shovel a mouthful of mashed potatoes into her mouth to try and disguise it. Maybe she was being overly optimistic but this seemed like a good sign on so many levels. If everything went well, the weird war between her two friends would get peacefully resolved and they just might come to the realisation that they could be more than just 'Kara's other friend' to each other. And to think she'd nearly torpedoed this golden opportunity by asking Winn to come over to her apartment for Thanksgiving – or Friendsgiving as Eve had called it – with her and the Danvers.

(Little did Kara know that Eve had extended her own invitation first in order to prevent Kara from making that exact suggestion... and how grateful she would be considering the ugliness that would transpire on Thanksgiving.)

* * *

A workload the size of a small moon awaited Kara when she returned from lunch, preventing her from calling Alex to discuss Eliza's impending arrival until the evening. Seeing no real reason to rush, she changed into something more comfortable and ate her dinner first before she plopped herself down on her couch and picked up her phone.

Unexpectedly, her relaxed state did not last.

“Mom's coming here?” Instead of being elated, Alex sounded strangely panicked. “Why?”

Kara tried, but the sliver of guilt that had hounded her since Eliza had laid out her reasoning made itself known again despite her efforts. “She doesn't want Supergirl to be MIA from National City.”

“Oh.”

“...Alex?” Kara ventured cautiously when nothing but dead silence followed. “Is... Is everything okay?”

More silence ensued, but just as Kara was about to ask again Alex finally spoke up... although her voice sounded incredibly and alarmingly strained. “There's something I need to talk to you about.”

That was enough to convince Kara. “Okay, just... hold on. I'm coming over.” Without waiting for a response, she ended the call and grabbed her supersuit. Under normal circumstances, she would never consider flying around the city for anything aside from superhero duties but Alex's behaviour felt like a good enough excuse to make an exception just this once. Less than a minute later, she had landed in an empty alley near Alex's apartment building, changed back into civilian clothes and knocked on her adoptive sister's front door.

“You didn't have to come,” was how Alex greeted her when she opened the door but the older Danvers sister still stepped aside to let Kara in.

“I wanted to. You sounded...” Kara trailed off as she tried and failed to find the right word. “Alex, what's wrong? Why are you so worked up about Eliza coming to National City for Thanksgiving?”

“It's not-” Alex cut herself off and dragged her free hand down her face while she closed the door with her other one. “I'm not worked up about her coming here exactly. It's just... It was going to be stressful anyway. I guess I was just hoping it couldn't get even _more_ stressful.”

Dread crept up on Kara with every word bereft of an explanation that left Alex's lips. “Alex, you're starting to scare me. Please... Just tell me what's bothering you so much.”

“I'm going to tell her.” Alex's words were short and sharp as she marched past Kara and swiped the open beer bottle that had been sitting unnoticed on the dining table.

Kara's attention was split between Alex's mystifying declaration and the bottle that her adoptive sister was taking a very generous gulp from in front of her. “Tell Eliza what?”

“About the DEO.” Alex waved the hand holding the bottle in a sweeping arc around her apartment. “You know, me working for them and all that.”

“You haven't told her?” In hindsight, Kara could completely understand why but it was still a little startling to hear it said out loud.

A derisive snort escaped Alex as she looked at Kara with an expression that screamed 'I can't believe you even have to ask me that'. “Yeah, because Mom's totally not going to overreact the moment she hears 'DEO' fall out of my mouth.”

“I'm sure she'll understand if you break it to her properly.” The guilt nipping away at Kara's heart slowly but surely grew. “You know I'll back you up. Alex... I'm here for you. You know that, right?”

“Yeah, I do.” Alex turned away, her expression unreadable as she lifted the bottle to her lips again.

While Alex was relatively distracted, Kara lowered her glasses and scanned the kitchen trash can with her X-ray vision on a hunch. What she saw caused her to speak before she could think twice. “Alex, how many of those have you had today?”

Alex stilled completely, and Kara had the painful and unsettling feeling that she had made a glaring misstep. “That's none of your business, Kara.”

“I-” The warning glare Alex levelled at her caused the feeble argument Kara had been about to voice to die in her throat.

“Where are we going to have Thanksgiving?” Alex asked when she seemed absolutely sure that Kara wasn't going to say anything else.

Kara had never imagined a situation where she would feel so afraid to speak to Alex but that was her reality now. “Eliza... She wanted us to discuss it-”

“Your place.” The blunt way Alex cut Kara off made her flinch. “I'm guessing we'll have to buy some of the food and Mom will bring the rest?”

Kara nodded silently.

Alex lifted the bottle in her hand to her lips again in a way that made Kara unsure if she was being dared to comment on it or not. “Split the list and text me my share.”

The unspoken dismissal hung heavily in the air, and Kara left Alex's apartment with a vision blurred by unshed tears.

* * *

Meditation.

If anyone had told him that he would do it – and on a regular basis, even – during his days back on Daxam, Mon-El was sure he would have laughed in their faces.

And yet here he was, sitting on the grass cross-legged with his eyes closed, his hands resting loosely on his knees, his mind clear and his breathing slow and even.

He did this sometimes when none of his usual distractions worked and trying to find new ways to occupy himself was too tiring on its own. The first time he had tried it, it had been out of necessity; after all, establishing a mental connection with Kara while she was awake was going to be hard enough in its own right and clearing his mind had seemed the sensible thing to do.

Maybe it had been because it had let him feel her while they were separated but he found himself meditating every now and then after that when he was at a loss as to what to do. The added bonus was that if and when Kara tried to reach out to him while he was already meditating, he noticed it faster and could therefore respond accordingly in no time.

Bal-Seg would have said something about how fitting it was that a woman was the reason behind this... that is, if the old man didn't accuse him of being a terrible impostor.

The stray thought of his tutor which had interrupted his meditative state fled Mon-El's mind along with the tranquillity it had brought him when he sensed Kara's return. He almost always knew when she was about to appear; the how escaped him but he hadn't seen why it mattered so he never paid it much attention.

He immediately tensed up, all feelings of inner peace gone as he took in the sight of her distressed expression and uncharacteristic reluctance to approach him. “Kara?”

“Hi.” Her voice was worryingly subdued, and although that seemed enough to prompt her to come closer she did it with great hesitation. “...Mon-El...?”

“Yes?” Two separate instincts warred inside him as he watched her finally sit down next to him with only the bare amount of space between them – more than usual but less than what would be true cause for concern. “What is it?”

She still kept her eyes trained on her fidgeting hands and didn't meet his gaze even once. “You... Back on Daxam, you drank a lot, didn't you?”

Out of everything he had been expecting her to say or ask, that had not been anywhere close to any of his guesses. “Uh... yes...? I mean, I've never once tried to hide it from you, after all.”

“I know. I... Sorry.” Impossibly, she looked even more distressed than before and brought her hands up to cover her face. “I don't know what I'm doing. I thought I knew what I was going to say when I went to sleep but...”

The instinct to reach out and touch her finally won, and he brought his hand gently down to rest on her shoulder but didn't initiate their connection. “Kara, you're not making any sense. Please, talk to me. Whatever it is-”

“Alex drinks,” she blurted out in a rush.

Once again, he was struck dumb by her unexpected utterance. “What?”

With just that, the dam burst. “Eliza's coming to National City for Thanksgiving this year because she doesn't want me to be unavailable if there's an emergency so she wanted us to discuss the arrangements but when I told Alex about it over the phone she sounded so off about it I decided to go over to her place to see what was bothering her and she said she was going to finally tell Eliza that she was working for the DEO and-”

“Okay, wait, wait. Stop.” He brought both his hands up to gently pull hers away so that he could cup her face in an effort to coax her to focus on him. The moment he initiated their connection, his mind was bombarded by a frenzied golden light that was practically fraying. “Kara, slow down, please. I can barely make out what you're saying.”

Whether it was his soothing voice or his heartfelt plea that penetrated the cloud of panic he didn't know but she blinked away the wild look in her bright blue eyes and gulped in a steadying if shaky breath. “S-Sorry.”

“Hey. Don't apologise,” he shushed her with a warm smile as he wove his thoughts around the golden light and sent all the calm and comfort he had through their connection. “I know you're stressed and I understand. Do you want to just take a moment and get your thoughts sorted out before you start again?”

Kara closed her eyes and nodded shakily. “Y-Yeah. Thank you.”

Mon-El shushed her softly again and pulled her closer so that their foreheads rested against each other. “Don't mention it. And take as long as you need.”

She did just that, and it was a while before the golden light became significantly less agitated and she spoke up again. “Eliza's coming to National City for Thanksgiving.”

“That's nice?”

“Because she doesn't want Supergirl to be missing if something happens.”

“Ah.”

“I called Alex to discuss the arrangements with her like who was going to host it and she sounded... stressed about it so I decided to go to her apartment to check on her.” A sudden burst of pain slammed into his mind without warning and she pulled back to better meet his gaze. “_She was drinking, Mon-El._”

“Oh.” A little stunned, Mon-El tried to recover as quickly as possible. Kara needed him and he couldn't afford to fail her. “Well, um... Speaking as someone who indulged excessively back on Daxam for reasons I've readily confessed multiple times, I think a drink or two-”

Her frantic head shake and the agitated way the golden light behaved at his aborted sentence told him he had misread the situation before she verbally corrected him. “It wasn't just one. I mean, she was just drinking one when I went over but there were a few empty bottles in her kitchen trash can and maybe they were from yesterday but she got so _defensive_ and _angry_ when I asked-”

“Okay, okay, slow down. You're going too fast again. No, stop. No need to apologise – again, even.” Brushing her cheeks with his thumbs, he waited until she was calm enough for his liking before he continued. “You think she's drinking to deal with stress and whatever other problems she might be having, I'm guessing? It's not a... physiological thing, right?”

“No, I don't think so.” Her distraught gaze turned into a curious one in one blink. “Why? Does it matter?”

He pulled one hand back to awkwardly scratch his jaw. “Well, sort of? My people's physiology makes us pretty resistant to the effects of most known addictive substances but we're not completely immune. There's a law that prohibits the creation, distribution and consumption of such things, though, since the pursuit of pleasure in any form has to be entirely voluntary instead of the result of a physical craving so-” He shook his head. “Wait, this isn't the time for a culture lesson. Back to the topic: Why do you think her drinking has anything to do with Eliza coming to visit?”

“It's not that. Not entirely anyway.” She closed her eyes and drew in a strained breath. “Alex is planning to finally tell Eliza that she's working for the DEO.”

“Oh.” Everything suddenly made sense. If the situation wasn't so tense, he would have risked a joke about doing the same thing in Alex's shoes. “Do you think she started recently because of this or...?”

“I don't know.” Another unexpected wave of distress nearly overwhelmed his mind. “She mentioned drinking in university and it's not like she doesn't have a hundred reasons to do it between Jeremiah and everything to do with the DEO, not to mention me...”

Ah. So that was what lay at the heart of all this. It seemed there really was nothing in the universe that she wouldn't find some way to blame on herself. “Kara...”

“Do you know how many health problems humans can suffer as a result of alcohol abuse?” she asked although it sounded as if she wasn't really addressing him or anyone in particular. “Liver damage, heart disease, brain problems... even cancer. And female humans are more susceptible to its harmful effects compared to males.” She opened her eyes to stare right into his, and all he could see in those blue orbs and feel from the golden light was pure anguish. “It lowers their life expectancy by approximately _ten years_. _Ten years, Mon-El._ I'm already going to outlive Alex by _centuries_; I can't-”

“Hey. Kara. Kara, don't. Don't go there. Don't do this to yourself,” he begged her as he pulled her into a tight hug that she reciprocated without hesitation. “You haven't lost her yet, okay? Not even close. There's still time. You still have time. Don't give up just yet – not on her and not on yourself most of all. You'll get through to her. I know you will. I know my optimism might seem a bit on the overly optimistic side since I myself didn't exactly stop drinking willingly-” He was vaguely aware that he was kind of babbling at this point as he freed one of the arms he'd wrapped around her body to gesture wildly at their surroundings although the vague sound of a muffled snort of laughter eased his mind a little. “-but I know that when I leave this place, I won't go back to it – not to blot out the world, at least – because of you. You did that, Kara. And if you can get through to me, you can get through to Alex too. You just need to... to go slow. And be patient with her. Like you were with me. Okay?”

A worrying stretch of silence ensued, but she finally answered just as he was about to try again. “...Okay.” Her arms tightened around his frame and she made something like an attempt to bury her face deeper into his chest. “Thank you, Mon-El.”

“Anything for you, Kara,” he murmured as he pressed a kiss to her hair. “Anything for you.”

* * *

When the formerly anticipated day finally arrived, Alex showed up at Kara's apartment with her share of the Thanksgiving shopping list on time and without a hint of their last conversation affecting her demeanour. It was as if that incident in her apartment had never happened – something which Kara wasn't sure was a good thing or not.

Regardless of how she felt about it, she kept her mouth shut and did her best to pretend nothing was amiss as she followed Eliza's instructions in preparing the food. Only when the Danvers matriarch was completely preoccupied with her cranberry sauce did Kara feel safe enough to pull her adoptive sister to the side for a quick chat. The drinking issue could wait for a less volatile time; right now, the bigger concern was Alex's plan to reveal the truth behind her job.

“You're really going to go through with it, aren't you?” she asked in a hushed voice, careful not to sound disapproving.

The look Alex shot her was a mixture of annoyance and uncertainty. “Can you think of a better time? Because we both know that if I keep this quiet any longer especially with you flying around in the open and Mom finds out some other way, it's going to be even worse.”

“I know and I'm not trying to dissuade you or anything like that but-” Kara stopped and sucked in a sharp breath. “Maybe don't go into it thinking she'll be mad? It's not like we're still kids that she has to worry about. And if you tell her that you joined the DEO to protect me like she always wanted you to do since the beginning, she might be more accepting of it.”

“You _do_ remember that protecting you isn't my only responsibility, right?” Alex counted pointedly before she deflated a little. “Although I guess that's what she'll focus on for sure...”

The random thought that it was a good thing there was no alcohol in her apartment for Alex to steal manifested unbidden in Kara's mind and she immediately felt guilty for having it. “However you decide to do this, I've got your back, okay? So don't... Just be honest. And calm. I'm sure she'll understand.”

Alex let out a vague unreadable noise but Eliza called them back into the kitchen before Kara could say anything else and that was that. The next window of opportunity to talk only presented itself when all the food had been cooked and each of them had filled their plates.

Naturally, Eliza was the one to start with small talk, asking the usual teasing questions about her daughters' apparently non-existent love life – as with every other time, Kara used her embarrassment as cover for her otherwise extremely suspicious evasiveness – before moving on to questioning them about their work.

As one, both Danvers sisters tensed. This was it.

“W-Well, um...” Kara started awkwardly, a small voice at the back of her head wondering if she was speaking first to buy Alex time to sort out her thoughts or delay the inevitable. “Ms Grant is... still Ms Grant. But, um, James and I are getting along much better now.”

Eliza beamed. “That's wonderful to hear, Kara.” Then she turned her attention towards Alex. “And what about you, Alex? How are things at that company of yours? I hope they haven't been overworking you.”

Kara held her breath while Alex inhaled audibly. “...Actually, Mom... There's something I've been meaning to tell you. The company I work for... It's not actually called Grace Pharmaceuticals. It's... I work for the DEO.”

A pin dropping would have sounded like a church bell in the ensuing silence.

To some extent, it was almost a relief when Eliza finally brought it to an end.

“You _what_?” Her expression was the picture of disbelieving anger. “Alex, how could you?! After what happened to your father, how could you agree to work with them?!”

Like dry grass and a lit match, that was all it took to set Alex off. “What do you mean, 'how could I'?! And I'm doing it for the same reason Dad accepted their offer all those years ago, okay?!”

Rendered mute even as a small voice at the back of her head was screaming at her to defuse the situation, Kara flinched and shrank into her seat but it went unnoticed by the other two women.

“No, it is not '_okay_', Alexandra! That organisation wanted to experiment on Kara and dissect her like she was some lab rat! They took your father away from us! In what world did you think that following in his footsteps _there_ would ever be '_okay_' to me?!”

“I'm a grown adult, Mom! I can make my own damn decisions for my own damn reasons! And how is it you can be mad at me for this but be totally fine with Kara over there flying around everywhere being one step away from getting locked up by the DEO if not for me?!”

“You're supposed to know better! Somehow with everything she's been through, your sister still thinks deep down that everyone can be as good as she is if they had the chance! When I asked you to take care of her, this is _not_ what I meant! I lost your father to those horrible people and I'm not about to lose you too!”

“_Well maybe if you and Dad hadn't taken Kara in in the first place, he'd still be here and I wouldn't have had to make the decision I did!_”

If the silence before had been unbearable, this one put it to shame.

“This was a mistake.” Shuffling noises coupled with angry footfalls reached Kara's ears followed by the sound of her front door being yanked open. “I'm leaving.”

The door slammed shut and another beat of damning silence descended upon the apartment. Feeling like she had been frozen in place, Kara curled further into herself as she felt Eliza's gaze fall on her.

“Kara... You knew, didn't you. You knew all this time. And you didn't just not try to convince her to give it up; you kept it a secret from me too.”

The guilt consuming her was overwhelming and yet Kara found it impossible to make a sound much less apologise.

“I can't...” There was a second, more controlled series of shuffling sounds and the front door opened again before shutting with a soft click that was comparable to a photon cannon.

Left all alone surrounded by a feast that no one – not even her – was going to eat, Kara finally let her tears fall freely. Not even St'rki who had been woken from his nap by the shouting match coming close and licking her face could make her feel even the slightest bit better.

The whole thing had been-

* * *

“-a disaster.”

Mon-El tightened his hold and felt his heart break for the hundredth time as Kara sobbed the last word into his chest, distantly sure and uncaring that his whole shirt was now probably soaked in her tears. “You can fix this. It's not the end of the world.”

“How?” A shudder so violent he actually worried she might literally fall apart ran through her body and his by extension thanks to their proximity. “Alex... Eliza... They both hate me now. Maybe... Maybe deep down they always did ever since...”

“Don't say that.” He made sure to keep his voice firm but gentle as he stroked her hair while his thoughts wrapped themselves around the dim golden light in his head. “We've talked about this before. They don't hate you, okay? They were just upset and I think we both know how people say a lot of hurtful things they don't really mean when they're upset.”

It wasn't as if he'd expected his words to magically make her feel better but the pulse of unadulterated pain and sorrow that emanated from the golden light exceeded his expectations. “Even so... I told Alex I would back her up when she broke the news to Eliza but when everything started falling apart I just... _I couldn't say anything_. She needed me and I wasn't there for her _even though I was sitting right there_! And Eliza's right; I shouldn't have kept Alex's involvement with the DEO a secret. She deserved to know.”

“It wasn't your secret to tell,” he gently reminded her. “You told me that was what you'd decided back then when you thought about it and I agreed with you.”

“Maybe I thought wrong. Maybe the right thing to do was tell her as soon as possible.” Before he could try to talk her out of this downward spiral, she pulled away and stared at him with the most heartbreaking expression he had ever seen. “What if it's too late? What if both of them never speak to me again because of this? What if-”

“_Kara._” He only used this tone when absolutely necessary but it never sat well with him when he did. _It's a necessary evil_, he told himself as she stopped talking so sharply he heard her teeth clack shut. “It's not too late, okay? It's never too late as long as they're still alive.” Thoughts of Bal-Seg and Hal-Ed threatened to surface but he shoved them down with a vengeance. “You love them and they love you. That's the only reason why all this hurts so much. And if that's the case, there's still a chance to fix things. You just have to... be more prepared this time, I suppose. And patient. They'll probably still be hurting when you talk to them but as long as you understand that and don't let it affect you too much, you'll get through to them.”

She blinked once, twice, flickers of hope and doubt visible in those watery blue orbs and the subdued golden light. “How can you be so confident?”

“Because we've been there, remember?” He gave her a gentle smile as he brushed away the few tears that still stained her cheeks. “We both once said a lot of things we didn't really mean and regretted a lot later but we – by which I mean you – didn't give up on us. Even though you thought there was a chance that I hated you and never wanted to see you again, you came back. You woke me up again and explained yourself. You told me what happened next was up to me. That's what you need to do again.” Deciding it was worth the risk, he tried for a very mild joke. “Just maybe don't take a whole week to sort out what you want to say?”

Amazingly, it worked and a noise vaguely resembling a very wet laugh escaped her although she gave him a half-hearted glare anyway and the golden light bumped against his mind in a reprimanding manner. “I know.”

“Good.” Satisfied but still understandably worried, he pulled her back into his embrace and rubbed soothing circles into her back. “You want to discuss what you want to say with me or...?”

“It's okay.” She let out a muffled sigh into his chest and all but melted under his ministrations. “I think I need to handle this one on my own. But thank you.”

Shifting only enough to make their current position more comfortable for the both of them, he tangled one of his hands in her hair and entwined their thoughts. “Don't mention it. And for what it's worth, I know you'll succeed. You all love each other too much to let this keep you apart.”

* * *

Mon-El always told her that she was the bravest person he had ever known. Every time he did, he would have such an earnest and awestruck expression on his face that it was impossible to think he didn't believe it with genuine and unshakable conviction.

Standing in front of Eliza's hotel room door and struggling to find the courage to knock on it, Kara found herself wondering if his faith in her was somewhat misplaced.

Her doubts must have caused her to subconsciously initiate their connection because as soon as the thought formed in her head, her mind registered a feather-light caress full of comfort and reassurance. “It'll work out,” she could almost hear him say. “All you have to do is take that step and be yourself.”

Before she could think twice, she raised her clenched fist and rapped her knuckles gently on the smooth surface.

Seconds that felt like centuries passed, and she was almost sure that her heart was going to cave in on itself with the way it was thundering in her ears.

Just as she was beginning to think that she was being intentionally ignored, the door finally opened to reveal Eliza. It was impossible to tell what she was thinking, so unreadable was her expression.

“H-Hi.” Kara's voice cracked a little and she cursed herself internally. “Can I... Can I come in?”

An unbearable stretch of silence ensued where both of them just looked at each other silently before Eliza stepped aside and pulled the door further open so that Kara could pass.

It was such a small thing but it was enough to give Kara the strength she had been looking for since she had left her apartment. “Eliza, I just want to say-”

“Kara, please. Stop.” Eliza held her free hand up as she shut the door with her other one. “You're here to apologise. I know. You don't have to say it.”

“But I _have_ to,” Kara insisted with raw desperation. “I know I should've told you that Alex was working for the DEO the moment I found out. I should've told you when you came over to talk to me about revealing myself to the world. But I didn't. I kept quiet, and for that I can't apologise enough.” She swallowed thickly and braced herself. “That's not the only thing I need to apologise for.”

Eliza's brow furrowed. “Kara-”

Something told Kara that Eliza had somehow managed to figure out what she was going to say – a mother's instinct, perhaps – but it didn't matter; the words tumbled out of her mouth without restraint regardless. “Alex is right; this is all my fault. If you and Jeremiah had never taken me in all those years ago, your family would still be whole and Alex wouldn't be risking her life every day working for the DEO-”

“_Stop._ Stop, _please_,” Eliza begged as she closed the distance between them and grasped Kara's hands. “Kara, you know none of us regret welcoming you into our family. Not even Alex, no matter how reluctant she might have been at the start and what she says when she's angry. We told you that day you shouldn't blame yourself for what happened and that still holds true today. I _am_ upset that you didn't tell me, I won't lie, but I understand why and I'm grateful that you're apologising for that now. As for the rest... the past is past and again, _it wasn't your fault_. There's no need to keep carrying it with you.”

“It doesn't change the fact that the situation we're in now exists because of me,” Kara argued. “But I swear to you, Eliza; just like with the plane incident, I won't let anything happen to Alex. We... We take care of each other. Just like we always did when we were still in school. You've already lost your husband; I won't let you lose your daughter too.”

“You're my daughter too, you know,” Eliza reminded Kara with a sad smile. “I'm afraid of losing you both now.”

_I'm afraid of being left all alone._

Kara heard the unvoiced sentiment as clearly as if Eliza had yelled the words out. It was a sentiment she was all too familiar with – a bone-deep, all-consuming fear that still ate away at her in the darkest recesses of her soul and surfaced at the most inopportune of moments. “You won't, I swear. You're not going to lose either one of us. I give you my word.”

Eliza's smile became just a little warmer. “I believe you.”

“Thank you.” Kara breathed an internal sigh of relief but didn't let herself relax completely just yet. There was one more relationship she had to repair. “Eliza... I think you need to talk to Alex before you go back to Midvale. I... I think you understand why she made the choice that she did and she understands why you're angry at her for it. So... talk it out with her. While I'm not around. Please. I think you both need it. I think we _all_ need it.”

“I will.” Eliza pulled Kara into a hug that would have likely been bone-crushing if not for Kara's invulnerability. “I'm so happy to be able to call you my daughter. I hope you know that.”

“I'm happy you took me in too,” Kara mumbled into Eliza's shoulder.

* * *

It was all in their hands now, and that along with the fact that she had committed to letting them sort it out on their own made Kara beyond restless. She was a compulsive fixer – or so she had been told – and consciously staying out of a messy situation that she felt wholly responsible for was driving her crazy with worry, guilt and a ton of other equally uncomfortable emotions.

A part of her wanted to fly over to Alex's apartment where she was sure her adoptive sister and mother were now having a very intense heart-to-heart or even use her enhanced hearing to eavesdrop. She could apologise for it after the fact, that agitated voice in her head argued; the more important thing right now was to make sure that everything was going smoothly and she hadn't destroyed what remained of the Danvers family. Still, she resisted... although not without great effort on her part.

Unable to just sit patiently in her apartment waiting for news of any kind and finding that pacing was only worsening her anxiety, she donned her supersuit and went on patrol. Flying especially at night usually helped clear her head and if she came across something that required her help, it would definitely keep her mind from obsessing over something beyond her control.

She was in the process of doing another sweep of the downtown area when her ears picked up the sound of her phone ringing. Hurriedly, she landed on the nearest roof and only paused long enough to make sure there weren't any potential witnesses or devices nearby that might overhear her before she answered.

“Hey.” Alex's voice was uncharacteristically subdued. “Can I come over to talk?”

“O-Of course!” Kara answered and winced at the hastiness of her reply. “I'm, um, out right now but I'll fly back this second.”

“Okay then. I'll see you there.”

Kara wasn't sure but she thought she might have set a new personal record as she rocketed home and changed back into civilian clothes before nervously waiting for Alex to show up. Because she was so anxious, she didn't even wait for her adoptive sister to knock before she all but threw her front door open.

Visibly surprised, Alex stared at her, hand frozen awkwardly in mid-air. “...Are you psychic now or did you cheat and listen out for my footsteps?”

“You have a very distinctive way of walking,” Kara mumbled defensively as she let Alex inside and shut the door behind her. “...So...”

Alex turned on her heels to face Kara again and shoved her hands into her jeans pockets. “So. Mom and I talked things out. We're... well, okay, I guess.”

It was a simple statement but it was enough for Kara to let herself start breathing properly again and the knot in her chest to finally loosen. “That's good to hear.”

The corners of Alex's lips twitched. “I thought you might say that. But that's not why I'm here.” She took a deep breath while Kara held hers. “I wanted to say I'm sorry. For the stuff I said the last time I was here first and foremost. Especially the part about Dad. I was just... angry. It's not a good excuse but it's all I have.”

“No, it's okay. I should apologise too. I mean, I told you I'd have your back and then said nothing when you were arguing with Eliza.”

“I get it. You don't have to but if you need to hear it directly from me, I forgive you. It was... a bad situation. Besides, I'd probably have told you to shut up and stay out of it or something along those lines if you'd tried. But that's not the only thing I want- _need_ to apologise for.”

Confused, Kara furrowed her brow as she tried to figure out what Alex might be talking about. “What else is there?”

Alex took another deep breath. “I... I asked you to host Thanksgiving precisely because I expected things to go ugly. I didn't want it to happen in my own apartment because... because that meant it would be harder for me to run off afterwards.”

“Oh.”

Projecting a barely perceptible aura of defeat, Alex dropped her gaze to the floor and scuffed at it with the toe of her boot. “I just... Sorry. That's all I can say. It was a crappy thing to do and I totally understand if you want to be mad at me for it.”

“I'm not mad,” Kara insisted with a shake of her head. “I... If I'd known how you felt... You could've told me from the start. I would've understood.”

“I know,” Alex sighed. Everything from her posture to her voice telegraphed her remorse, and when she lifted her gaze to meet Kara's her expression just confirmed it. “There's something else. Something I told Mom that you don't know.”

Surprised and a little confused, Kara could only blink as she tried to figure out what it could be. “What is it?”

Raising a hand to her face, Alex scrubbed at it for a few seconds before she answered. “Keeping you safe wasn't the only reason I decided to work for the DEO. I... I've been trying to find out the truth behind Dad's last mission for years and I figured this might bring me one step closer.”

That old familiar feeling of guilt grew stronger with this latest revelation but Kara knew if she started apologising again Alex would probably get mad at her again. “Why didn't you tell me before?”

“Because I knew you'd blame yourself for that too. Just like I know you're doing right now,” Alex stated simply.

“Let me help you,” Kara heard herself offering the moment she thought of it. “Whatever it is I can do, just tell me, okay? I want to know the truth too. Besides... You're my sister, Alex. I'd go to the ends of the universe for you.”

A faint grin curved Alex's lips. “Stop stealing my lines. I'm supposed to be the cool older sister.” Then the grin vanished and she looked uncharacteristically nervous. “So... We're okay?”

“Of course we are.” Unable to hold back any longer, Kara strode up to Alex and wrapped her adoptive sister in as tight a hug as her powers would allow. “I'm always here for you, Alex.”

“And I you,” Alex replied softly as she returned the hug. “By the way, since we're on a roll with the apologies thing right now, I suppose I should say sorry for not bringing a gift of some kind.”

Almost immediately, Kara found herself wondering if Alex's idea of a gift would have been some kind of alcoholic beverage and felt both troubled and guilty. The issue of Eliza finally learning the truth about Alex's job had somehow managed to be solved without too much lasting damage but the matter of Alex's drinking problem remained. For a fleeting moment, she considered bringing it up but stopped herself and pushed the thought away. They had just gotten through a decidedly rough patch and the wounds had barely started to heal. If she asked Alex about it now, she was sure that she would be met with nothing but hostility and there would be no hope of getting through to her adoptive sister.

_Next time_, she told herself as she chanced tightening the hug just a fraction. _I'll talk to her about it when things are calmer._

She could only pray that it would not be too late by then.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully the angst in this chapter wasn't too overwhelming but it had to happen eventually and better sooner than later, right?  
(quails under the glares)  
...Anyway, about that thing I asked you to look out for at the end of this chapter: akane171 requested a small fic based on a prompt and I (grudgingly) delivered. It's pure fluff so please feel free to go to my Tumblr account and read it as a... palate cleanser of sorts, I guess? It's tagged as "karamel", naturally. On that note, I am open to receiving prompts there (for PiaD, even!) but please don't flood me since I still want to focus on PiaD. That's all. Once again, I hope you're all staying safe and healthy; I'll see you all in the next update.
> 
> Season 1 Rant for the Chapter:  
I will never understand how watching James call Kara for an obviously not platonic chat while on vacation with his girlfriend at a romantic getaway location was supposed to convince me to actually root for them to get together.


	10. Marionette

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Of what value is a life that is not alive?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys. First of all, I feel like I have to apologise for the long wait; as I'm sure some of you might have noticed, I've started a little prompt fic project on the side to give everyone small bursts of pure Karamel when I thought it might be needed (*coughstupidshowcough*) and... well, it unfortunately but predictably cut into my PiaD writing time. However, I would like to stress that PiaD will always be my priority until I finish it so don't worry about me abandoning it. In any case, I hope you and your loved ones are still holding up and you like this chapter.

When Kara had made that deal with Henshaw to let Kal-El help with rescuing Maxwell Lord and subduing Ben Krull, she knew that she would come to regret it someday. After all, this was Henshaw they were talking about; history offered enough proof that he was a man who cruelly exploited any leverage he had with highly unpleasant consequences for the other party involved. She had made the decision out of necessity – to protect not only her life but the lives of the people she cared about starting with Kal-El himself and Alex – with full awareness of this fact... and yet there had still been a small part of her that had hoped he would never collect on the 'favour' she now owed him.

Of course, she really should have known better.

“I'm sorry, _what_?” she asked incredulously as she stood in the DEO's command centre with her arms crossed defensively in front of her chest and stared at Henshaw.

As usual, his imitation of a stone statue was impeccable. “You've been temporarily transferred to a special forces unit of Army Intelligence for the purpose of assisting with one of their projects.”

“_But I don't even work for you!_” she exploded, so angry at being treated like a commodity to be traded around without a second thought instead of a living breathing person that she didn't care if her outburst had caused the nearby agents to glance her way.

“No,” he conceded, “but you work _with_ us and that's all it takes.”

“I don't care.” If she clenched her jaw any tighter, she was sure that everyone in the DEO would be able to hear her teeth grinding. “I'm not doing whatever it is they want me to do and that's final.”

Alex who had maintained her silence this whole time carefully cleared her throat then, and Kara had a sinking feeling that she was about to be proven horribly wrong. “Actually... I'm sorry, Kara, but you really don't have a choice here.” Her already remorseful expression became more pronounced as she held out a very official-looking document emblazoned with the seal of the US Army. “They have an executive order forcing you to comply. It's even been signed by the President.”

Kara let out a muttered curse under her breath even as she grudgingly accepted the document. Maybe she was being a little biased but she couldn't wait for President Baker to lose his bid for re-election and get kicked out of the White House. If Senator Marsdin ended up replacing that xenophobic jerk, she would be even happier.

Her musings on America's political circus were brought to a swift end when her eyes caught one name at the start of the document:

General Sam Lane.

Suddenly it all made sense... and not in a good way.

Kal-El had told her so many stories over the years about the military thorn in his side that she'd managed to form a pretty clear picture of what the man was like. Furthermore, Lois had never been shy about sharing her opinions of her father when the topic had come up. Chances were that General Lane had decided to come down to National City for the sole purpose of extending his hate campaign against Superman to his cousin... and Henshaw had probably all but rolled out the red carpet upon getting the 'request'. For all she knew, they held meetings all the time where they did nothing but voice how their respective supers were a threat to national security or whatnot.

Sure enough, what she could understand of the military and political jargon that filled the papers in her hands only confirmed what Henshaw and Alex had told her. Essentially, refusing to comply with this 'request' was going to land her in Serious Trouble with the US government. (Grife, if this was the kind of thing that Mon-El had been forced to deal with daily back on Daxam, she could understand why he had run away from his responsibilities so often.)

In other words, she was going to have to take part in this little military exercise whether she liked it or not.

“...Fine,” she bit out as she handed the document back to Alex, “what exactly am I supposed to be doing?”

Alex cleared her throat again although this time it sounded a little like she knew how ridiculous the next words out of her mouth were going to sound. “Fight a robot.”

Completely thrown by the randomness of her adoptive sister's 'clarification', Kara could only stare blankly. “Sorry, what?”

“'Robot' would be somewhat of an understatement,” Henshaw cut in smoothly, drawing the attention of both Danvers sisters in the process. “As its creator Dr Morrow will undoubtedly insist should you mention the word in his presence, it is 'an anthropomorphic pseudo-entity with combat capabilities' codenamed Red Tornado.”

The pretentiousness of the description as well as the name prompted Kara to roll her eyes. “I stand corrected. Yes, that makes _so_ much difference.”

If he noticed her sarcasm, he didn't show it. “The field test will take place tomorrow. Out of consideration for your day job, it has been scheduled for after your standard working hours. Do not be late.”

Great. So much for her plans to set up what she had hoped would be the first of many Friday game nights at her apartment. After she had found out that Thanksgiving at the Teschmacher household had not in fact resulted in a gruesome murder, she had started to truly hope again. Despite Eve's continued insistence and Winn's apparent disinterest, Kara still thought that the two of them would make a cute couple and was determined to make it happen.

Game night had been her best idea of accomplishing her goal – she had even thought of inviting James both as a way to make him feel a little more welcome in their group and avoid making Eve suspicious about her motives – after a night of mulling over her options... but now it looked like it would have to wait for next week. Hopefully they wouldn't be too disappointed.

* * *

“You're fighting a robot?!”

Far from being disappointed, Winn looked like he was about to jump out of his seat across the table and shake Kara in excitement. Even Eve looked piqued by the idea although James seemed a little troubled. It was understandable, Kara thought to herself; after all, considering how much trouble General Lane had caused Kal-El over the years, it was very likely James harboured less than fond feelings for the man.

“What kind of robot are we talking here?!” Winn's animated voice dragged Kara's attention back to him and what was clearly another one of his geek-outs. “C3PO? Terminator? Roomba?”

“Seriously, Winn?” Eve chastised him with a roll of her eyes, pausing only to pluck a fry from her plate and pop it into her mouth. “Do you think the military's in the business of producing indestructible home appliances now?”

Having to once again prevent another argument from taking place and by extension avoid them all being thrown out of the restaurant, Kara quickly stepped in. “Apparently it's 'an anthropomorphic pseudo-entity with combat capabilities' so no, definitely not a benign robot of any kind. Terminator would probably be the closest possibility but I'm really not sure what I'm going up against afterwards so it's just wild guessing on my part.”

“Whatever it is, you should probably be on your guard,” James cautioned with complete seriousness. “Considering General Lane is involved, it's safe to say that this isn't going to be a walk in the park.”

“I know, James,” Kara sighed before shaking off the encroaching dour mood. “Well, I guess I'll only find out what's in store for me in a few hours but something tells me it's going to take a while so I'm not sure if I can still host game night. Sorry I made you all clear your schedule tonight for nothing, guys.”

“It's fine, Kara. You didn't exactly see this coming and there's always next week,” Eve assured her and both guys nodded in assent. “It's not like the world's going to end because I didn't kick all your asses at Monopoly for one night.”

All of them immediately began calling her out for her perceived superiority in the board game and the rest of their lunch hour was spent in friendly if somewhat competitive banter.

They were all still so cocooned in their bubble of still nascent camaraderie that the unexpected voice that burst said bubble took them all by surprise.

“James.”

As one, all of them stopped talking and turned towards the source of the voice to find a woman staring at them... or rather one member of their group in particular.

“Lucy,” James whispered in stunned disbelief as the other three of them glanced between the two in quiet confusion.

It took Kara a moment to realise why the name rang a bell and the stranger in front of them looked vaguely familiar... and that was because she wasn't a complete stranger.

Standing before them was none other than Major Lucy Lane, beloved sister of Lois Lane and the second daughter of General Sam Lane. The same Major Lucy Lane who happened to be the legal attaché of her father... which was probably why she was here in National City. In fact, it was more than likely that Lucy had been the one to put together the paperwork for the impending field test that was taking place in the evening.

“I was trying to decide whether I should call you while I was in town,” Lucy said with a wavering smile on her face, “but I guess that's kind of moot now.”

In contrast, James was not smiling. At all. If Kara had to describe his current expression, she would probably go with 'pained'. “Why are you here, Lucy?”

His less than warm response caused Lucy's smile to dim a little but she stood firm. “I didn't like the way we ended things so I thought we could... I don't know, get dinner? And talk?”

It was at that point that even Kara who was so oblivious when it came to noticing such matters realised just what kind of relationship Lucy and James most likely had.

_Oh_, she thought dumbly to herself. _This must be why Lois was so angry at Kal-El and James for the sudden move to National City._

Mentally scrambling for a way to escape the incredibly uncomfortable situation, she was beyond relieved when Eve spoke up first. “We'll be going ahead then, James. It looks like the two of you have a lot of things to discuss.”

“Yes!” Winn's relieved exclamation made it clear to Kara she hadn't been the only one eager for an excuse to leave the tense scene. “Got... uh... work to do, you know. Computers to debug, keyboards to unstick... the usual.”

“Me too,” Kara chimed in as she flashed both Lucy and James her best attempt at a chipper smile. “It was nice to meet you, Lucy, and I'll... uh, see you back at the office, James.” Then she took off after Winn and Eve who had already started walking away.

Winn was the first to address the situation they were now leaving behind them. “Well that was awkward.”

“That's putting it lightly,” Eve responded blandly before turning her attention to Kara. “By the way, are you really in a rush to get back to the office? I could use some ideas on what to get Mom and Dad for Christmas if you have a few minutes to spare.”

The meaningful look Eve was giving her made it clear to Kara that her best friend had something else in mind to discuss. “Sure thing.”

“In that case, I'll head back first.” Throwing them the Vulcan salute, Winn walked off in the direction of CatCo and was promptly swallowed up by the crowd.

“Okay then.” The moment he was out of sight, Eve pulled Kara to the side and trained her hawkish gaze on her best friend. “So I have questions. First things first: Did you know he left someone back in Metropolis when he came here?”

Kara shook her head. “Not at all. I mean, it's not like I've been on speaking terms with James long enough for him to share this sort of thing with me.” There was also the fact that neither Kal-El nor Lois had shared that particular bit of information with her but there was no way to mention that without tacking on a very long secret-laden explanation.

“So you've never seen or heard of this Lucy before today?” Eve pressed.

“...Well, I may have heard her name a few times in the past...” Kara hedged tentatively only to shrink back when Eve's gaze sharpened. “Please don't ask me how. I can't tell you and I don't want to lie either.”

Eve's eyes narrowed suspiciously but to Kara's great relief she eventually relaxed and chose not to press the issue. “Hmm. Well, that's fine. It doesn't matter in the end.”

Now it was Kara's turn to be wary. “Why? Eve, what are you up to?”

The benign smile that spread across Eve's face far from reassured Kara that her best friend was currently harbouring innocent thoughts. “Nothing, Kara. Nothing at all. You should focus on that thing you have after work; none of us want you to get hurt after all.”

* * *

Unable to figure out what Eve might be scheming this time, Kara eventually gave up and decided to do as she had been told. James was right, after all; if General Lane was personally overseeing this project, she had to be extremely careful. Even if he hadn't overseen every detail himself, he had very likely chosen her to test it because he secretly intended for it to be used against her and Kal-El in the future. Following that logic, the robot would – at least on paper – be capable of harming them or countering their powers. Although she knew that it was supposed to be used as an anti-insurgent combat device in regular military operations, a part of her still feared that it had been equipped with some kind of Kryptonite weapon.

Either way, there was only one way to find out... and she was going to find out whether she wanted to or not.

General Lane's entourage of military vehicles had already set up shop in the part of the desert near the DEO base that had been designated as the test site by the time she arrived. Off to the side, several desert camouflage tents shielded an assortment of tables, chairs and electronic equipment from potential prying eyes. A mixture of soldiers and DEO agents went about their tasks like busy ants but she could feel more than one set of eyes on her as she touched down.

“National City's very own self-declared protector.” General Lane was the first to greet her much to her distaste, his tone full of condescension and a mocking smile stretched across his face. “So good of you to grace us with your presence.”

Now, more than ever, she was convinced that he was doing this just because the overwhelmingly positive public opinion of Superman prevented him from openly going after the main target of his hate. Antagonising him would do her no favours, however, so she held her tongue. “General Lane.”

“Supergirl!” Thankfully, Alex came to her rescue and waved her over. “There's something we need to discuss before we begin if you don't mind.”

The promise of a brief respite was enough for Kara but she made sure to maintain a cool facade. “Of course.” Once she was close enough, she dropped her voice down to a covert whisper. “What's wrong?”

Alex frowned quizzically for a moment before realisation dawned on her. “Oh. No, nothing's wrong. I just wanted to check up on you before this whole mad stunt kicks off.”

“Thanks, Alex. I'm fine.” Unbidden, the thought of making a quip about maybe needing some liquid courage came to her but Kara suppressed it. She had been reading up on how to stage an intervention to address her adoptive sister's drinking problem but every scenario she ran through in her head always ended badly. Besides, this was definitely not a good time to bring it up. “Is there anything I should know?”

A derisive snort escaped Alex. “Yeah, as if _those_ guys-” she jerked her head in the general direction of the soldiers, “-are the talkative type. I did overhear that the robot has some kind of AI with learning capabilities but that's about it. Don't worry though; I'm pretty sure no matter how fancy their little toy might be, it's no match for you. All you need to do is keep your cool and you've got this.”

Smiling, Kara very carefully punched Alex's shoulder. “I won't let you down.”

“Good, because I've got forty bucks on you turning that robot into scrap metal,” Alex grinned.

The smile vanished from Kara's face as she stared disbelievingly at her adoptive sister. “You _bet_ on me?!”

Instead of being ashamed, Alex just grinned a little wider and clapped Kara's shoulder heartily. “It's my way of showing how much faith I have in you.”

“Somehow it doesn't quite feel that way...” Kara muttered accusingly under her breath.

Before their little squabble could go any further, Henshaw made his presence known. “Dr Morrow has almost finished setting up so if you're fully prepared, Supergirl, I suggest you get into position.”

“Fine. Let's get this over with,” she muttered as she threw Alex one last annoyed glare before marching towards the centre of the 'clearing' that was to be their unofficial arena. Along the way, she passed a smart-looking man who looked out of place with his button-up shirt, grey suit jacket and pressed pants. Dr Morrow, she presumed, and the arrogant smirk he gave her all but confirmed it. Suddenly the idea of sending his precious robot to the junkyard became so much more appealing.

The other thing that stood out like a sore thumb – quite literally thanks to its colour – was her opponent for the day. As its name suggested, the humanoid robot had been painted several different shades of red from head to toe. Strips of gold adorned strategic points of its body while a giant 'T' had been engraved into its chest.

All of that was fine if a little weird... but the part she _really_ couldn't fully come to terms with was how _human_ he looked down to having a nose that she highly doubted was anything more than an aesthetic choice. After all these years on Earth, she still couldn't understand why humans were so obsessed with creating robots that looked exactly like them. On Krypton and even Daxam, their robots had been designed with functionality in mind and not a single one of them had had a face that was anything but clearly robotic.

Her brain conjured up the image of Kelex resembling a cherub and she shuddered.

Just as she finished shoving the disturbing image out of her mind, Red Tornado lifted its head and its unsettling yellow eyes lit up. “RED TORNADO ONLINE.”

...Okay, so the mouth wasn't just for looks... but that really didn't make it any less creepy.

“If I don't like what I'm seeing at any point, I'm ending this,” she overheard Henshaw say from inside the tent behind her when she increased her supersensory awareness in preparation for the impending fight.

“Which I would completely understand if you had any authority over me,” General Lane replied with no small amount of smugness. “Dr Morrow, you may begin.”

Henshaw displaying any sign he might even remotely care about her well-being always unbalanced her but she shook it off and settled into a basic fighting stance. A quick scan with her X-ray vision revealed nothing – lead lining, most likely, and probably General Lane's 'contribution' to the project – so she didn't know if there were any structural weaknesses to exploit. And then there was the fact that it could supposedly learn and adjust its tactics to counter her attacks... Maybe this wasn't going to be as easy as she had thought after all.

As Kara watched carefully, Red Tornado lifted its arms so that its fingers were all pointed at her. Missile fingers? That seemed impractical.

Then the hands started spinning at unimaginable speeds and the next thing she was aware of was being blasted with winds so strong she was flying through the air. Tents and trucks became a blur as she passed them before she landed with her head half-buried in a sand dune way beyond the camp's parameter.

“Right,” she wheezed to herself in between hacking coughs as her body fought to expel all the sand she had unintentionally swallowed and breathed in. “Red Tornado. Should have seen that coming.”

Faint whistling noises in the air alerted her to the next incoming attack and she rolled away just in time to avoid being pummelled by several small missiles. So it _had_ been equipped with projectile weapons after all. Scrambling to her feet, she squinted at the advancing robot and tried to figure out where its ammunition was being stored in its body and its maximum capacity. If she could get it to waste away all its shots first, that would be one less thing to worry about although only Rao knew what other kind of tricks it was hiding up its proverbial sleeve.

As if it had deduced her plan, Red Tornado began spinning its hands again but this time she was ready and used her superspeed to avoid the gusts of wind... only to find several more missiles barrelling down where she meant to stop. Cursing under her breath, she shot straight up into the sky as fast as she could and did not fail to notice the explosion of fire and sand just under her feet.

For a moment, the two combatants just locked gazes as they reassessed each other silently.

“All right,” Kara whispered as a plan formed in her head, “my turn to show off.”

She waited until it had its spinning hands aimed at her before she dived back down, aiming for a spot just in front of it. A deft turn allowed her to avoid the volley of missiles meant to catch her off guard and she reversed position just before she hit the ground feet first. Just as she had intended, her landing destabilised the sand beneath it and it pitched forward as a result... right into the range of her well-aimed uppercut. The robot went sailing into the sky and she followed suit, flying alongside it until it reached the peak of its ascent before punching it back down to Earth at an angle that would ensure it landed in the dead centre of the test site.

Amazingly, Red Tornado was still in one piece when she touched down despite the sizeable crater serving as its 'bed'. Perhaps Dr Morrow deserved some credit for making it so durable although the fact that the ground was more sand than solid dirt or concrete might have helped minimise its fall damage. Either way, its lack of movement made it clear who had won the fight.

“Supergirl, stand down,” Henshaw's voice rang out, and she turned to find him exiting the tent with Alex, General Lane and Dr Morrow in tow. “That's enough. The test is over.”

Holding up her hands and stepping away from her handiwork, Kara struggled to suppress her smug grin at the sight of General Lane's foul disposition. If looks could kill, she would probably be pushing up daisies that very second as the humans liked to say. Dr Morrow's expression was no less amusing, his arrogance from earlier a distant memory as he surveyed his defeated robot with numb shock. A safe distance behind all of them, Alex threw her a less than subtle thumbs up.

A strange noise behind her drew Kara's attention back to Red Tornado and she whipped her head around to see it spasm as if someone had jammed a live cable right into its power source. Then its eyes flashed red and it sat upright before pointing one of its arms in their direction.

Alarm bells went off in her head and she reacted instinctively. “Everyone, get down!”

The artificial tornado tore through the space where everyone had been standing a heartbeat ago and decimated the tent behind them. Relief at having saved the people in front of her was swiftly replaced with horror as she heard the anguished screams of the soldiers and agents who had still been in the tent. Moving on autopilot, she sped over and immediately began working to rescue the trapped humans underneath the wreckage. It was probably only through the grace of Rao that none of them had been mortally wounded but medical care was still necessary so she only allowed herself to relax when a couple of medics showed up and took over.

“_What the hell just happened?!_”

General Lane's furious exclamation reminded her of the magnitude of their current situation and caused her to look back in his direction. Unsurprisingly, his ire was being directed at a very panicked Dr Morrow who was frantically tapping away at his tablet.

“I don't know!” Dr Morrow replied, his terror matched only by his confusion. “She must have triggered his emergency self-preservation function!”

That was when Kara realised a certain robot was missing from the scene.

Dr Morrow's fear became her own as she searched the skies for the missing Red Tornado but no matter where she looked or how hard she tried, she couldn't spot him.

“Well, make him fly back here!” General Lane roared.

“_I can't!_” came the distressed reply. “He's not responding to my commands and his stealth mode has been activated! Right now, he's completely undetectable!”

Angry that Dr Morrow was not giving him the answers he wanted, General Lane predictably turned his attention to her. “_You!_” He jabbed an accusatory finger as he marched over in her direction while Henshaw and Alex ran to check on the wounded DEO agents. “This is _your_ fault!”

“Excuse me?!” she snarled, matching his fury with her own. Was all he cared about assigning blame? Did the state of his men come second to that? “First of all, _you're_ the one who asked me to fight it! Secondly, why am I automatically the one at fault here?!”

Her rebuttal only incensed him further. “Because you aliens are _always_ the ones causing problems like these! And now you've unleashed an uncontrollable killing machine on National City! A billion-dollar investment and eleven years of R&D not just down the drain but also on the verge of becoming a military PR nightmare!” Without letting her get another word in edgewise, he turned to address one of his men. “Pack up and head back to base! I want this thing found and destroyed before it turns National City into a war zone!”

“D-Destroy it?” Dr Morrow squawked in horror, having overheard the orders being barked out. “Y-You can't do that! I've invested too much time and effort-”

“The last thing the army needs is a bunch of wounded civilians on the 9 o'clock news!” General Lane cut the sputtering scientist off, his face red with rage. “Unless you want to get court-martialed, Dr Morrow, I suggest you get on board with the plan right this second.”

“Hey.” Alex jogged over as both men departed the scene, her eyes filled with worry. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I'm fine,” Kara reassured her with a tight smile. “Just... worried about the chaos that robot's about to cause.”

Alex gave her a sympathetic smile and patted her arm consolingly. “Well, it was a clean fight and the problem's most likely some faulty wiring or whatever so don't blame yourself for it going haywire, okay? Plus, I'm sure that thing will turn up sooner or later so you can just kick its malfunctioning ass again and decommission it for good when it does without even breaking a sweat.”

“Yeah...” Deep down, however, Kara suspected that it wasn't going to be that easy. The memory of the robot's eyes glowing red came back to her and it filled her with unease. It could mean nothing or anything but she had a bad feeling General Lane hadn't been all that wrong about this being the fault of an alien.

* * *

The moment she got home, Kara wasted no time changing out of her supersuit before lying down on the couch and reciting her meditation chant. Dinner could wait; she needed a second opinion as soon as possible.

Predictably, her appearance in the dream world wearing casual clothes put Mon-El immediately on guard but a quick reassurance from her stopped him from freaking out. Once she was sure he was calm enough, she outlined everything that had happened during the training exercise from the beginning to the end while he listened without saying a word.

“...Kara, I don't want you to panic,” he started slowly after a long moment of contemplative silence, his brows furrowed with worry, “but you may want to consider the possibility that this robot may have been compromised by a third party.”

Her shoulders sagged and she let out a relieved breath which confused him a little. “Oh thank Rao. I thought I was being too paranoid.”

That caused one corner of his lips to twitch. “Well, it's always better to be too cautious than too relaxed especially when it's your life on the line.” Then his expression turned grim again. “Based on what you described, I suspect that this is the work of-”

“-the Coluan from Fort Rozz?” she finished for him but did not feel proud of herself for guessing correctly when he nodded in confirmation. “Why would they steal Red Tornado though? I mean, it's advanced by Earth's standards but surely they're more powerful in comparison?”

He shook his head. “Coluans may have above average strength, speed and resilience but I probably wouldn't put them on the same level as you with your powers. Their greatest strength is their natural technopathic ability but even then they are only as strong as the technology they control. I suspect there may be another reason why they hijacked that robot.”

“You mean besides using it to kill me?” she asked dryly.

Of course, he didn't laugh at her poor attempt at a joke. “This is pure speculation on my part but considering their actions so far, it seems like they want to keep their identity or their affiliations hidden from you. They want you dead, yes, but it's starting to feel like this might be about more than just revenge although what that other motive might be is unclear. You probably aren't even supposed to so much as suspect they're after you, much less know that they're out there somewhere. There is an upside to this though.”

She blinked. “There is?”

“As long as it benefits them to keep their existence hidden from you as long as possible, there is a minimal chance they'll attack while you're moving around in the open especially as Kara Danvers,” he explained. “This is a Coluan we're talking about, after all; they would've been able to acquire any and all information about your cover identity from every database you're registered in by now.”

The idea that she was being spied on every second of every day through every single electronic device she owned was a little too much paranoia for her so she shelved it for the moment. Perhaps some added digital security was in order but right now, she had a more pressing issue to deal with. “Putting that matter aside, why did it steal Red Tornado? Why not just try to kill me the moment they took control of it?”

Mon-El gave her a wry grin. “Considering how easy it apparently was for you to defeat it, they probably figured success would be easier to achieve if they made a few... improvements to it first. Besides, the army and the DEO were there; they would've interfered for sure. Retreating and attacking you when you have no backup was the sensible tactic.”

“Which means they're probably going to strike very soon and time is of the essence.” Kara chewed her bottom lip as her mind raced. “We know they're coming so what if we take advantage of that?”

His brows furrowed. “What are you planning?”

“A trap.” The potential gains of her budding plan made her giddy with excitement. “You said I'm stronger than a Coluan with my powers, right? If I can find a way to force them out of Red Tornado where there's no other technology for them to 'jump' to, I can apprehend them. I can make them tell me what this plan of theirs is so I can stop them because I'm pretty sure they're not plotting anything good.” _I can make them tell me how to bring your shuttle out of the Well of Stars and set it on its way to Earth._

Their mental connection wasn't telepathic and they weren't even touching at the moment but the way he was looking at her suggested he had a good idea what she was thinking anyway. “There are a lot of risks. Your plan's going to have to pretty much be as close to flawless as possible and you probably only have tonight to put it all together.”

In short, the odds were heavily stacked against her... but the opportunity was too great for her to pass up. She had to try at the very least. “I know. Can you-”

“You already know I will.” 'Anything to make sure you stay alive,' was the unspoken second part of his answer.

“Thank you,” she said anyway. “So I guess we start by figuring out what I'm going to need.”

* * *

“Kara? Is everything all right?”

A faint smile curved Kara's lips. Trust Bruce to immediately assume the worst... although considering the fact that she was calling him in the middle of the night and did in fact need something critical from him, he had reason to worry. “Hi, Bruce. I'm fine. Sorry, did I call at a bad time?”

“No, we were just about to go on patrol.” Ah, that explained the faint echoey sounds her enhanced hearing was detecting.

“Is that Kara?” Selina's voice was faintly audible as if she was speaking from a distance. “Ask her if she's interested in a little midnight adventure because I have a great tip to send her way if her answer is 'yes'.”

“Selina says hi,” Bruce said stoically.

Kara's smile widened a little. “Tell her I said hi back. Anyway, I was wondering if you could help me get some information on a military project called Red Tornado. It's a... well, a combat droid, I guess, that's currently loose in National City and anything you can tell me about it could prove useful.”

“I know about the project. You performed well today based on the data I reviewed.” Right. _Of course_ Bruce kept tabs on things like these especially if they involved the safety of the people he cared about. Why had she ever thought she'd have to explain the situation to him? For all she knew, he'd already tried to track down Red Tornado himself. “I'll send everything I have through the usual channel. If you have any questions, call the Batcave; Alfred will be on hand to answer them.”

“Got it. Be careful, Bruce. You _and_ Selina.”

“We will, Kara. You be careful as well. Goodnight.”

The call came to an end, but as much as Kara wished she could just go back to sleep and be with Mon-El, she knew that she had work to do. While she waited for the incoming data, she quickly made a list of the materials she would need from Zinork and his brethren and the possible alternatives should her first choices be unavailable.

Her computer beeped just as she finished taking stock of her remaining Bokkolid 'currencies', and she quickly scanned the information in the files from Bruce before sending off a few text messages with some reluctance.

Then she was off, disappearing into the night sky in the direction of the junkyard.

* * *

“Wait, wait, wait, slow down.” Alex looked like she was having a headache as she surveyed the abandoned warehouse they were currently occupying. “Can you please repeat that but in English, not nerdspeak? For starters, what the hell is a Faraday cage?”

“It's an enclosure that blocks electromagnetic fields,” Winn explained, his eyes glued to the very-obviously-not-manufactured-on-Earth laptop he was currently fiddling with while Kara did a final check of the cage itself. The only way to describe his expression in that moment was 'supreme bliss' which made sense; being able to use alien technology and help Supergirl at the same time must be a dream come true for him. “When it's active, no signals can come in or out of it.”

“Okay, so the idea is to lure Red Tornado – or rather the Coluan currently controlling it – in here so that it can't escape to another device somewhere. And that's also why you asked me to drop my phone in that black box when I arrived.” The furrow in Alex's brow remained as she jabbed a thumb in the direction of Winn and his laptop. “What about that computer over there?”

“Don't worry, the Coluan can't transfer itself to that laptop,” Kara assured her adoptive sister as she floated down, at long last satisfied with her last-minute handiwork. “It's got... I suppose you could call it special shielding; if the Coluan tries to jump to it, it'll be like running face first into a brick wall.”

“This is _so_ worth calling in sick,” Winn practically swooned as he continued typing furiously on the keyboard. “Not that I had anything important to do today – or any day, really – but still.”

Kara could tell Alex still had her doubts and did her best to project confidence. “Winn's great with computers; I wouldn't have asked for his help otherwise. Don't worry so much.”

Judging by the fact that Alex's frown remained firmly in place, it was clear her words had not had their intended effect. “Kara, you just told me that you're going to use yourself as bait to capture a super advanced alien currently using a military weapon robot as its own suit of powered armour. As if that wasn't already dangerous enough, you want to capture it alive. With geek guy over there-”

“Hey!” Winn protested the nickname only to be ignored.

“-helping you to... kick the alien out from the inside by hacking it or something? I'd be crazy to not be worried!”

“You're leaving out an important part.” Kara smiled as she clasped Alex's shoulders. “You're here. I asked you for help for a reason. You're trained for this and if things go sideways, I know that you'll make sure we all get out of this in one piece even if you have to make a difficult decision I can't or won't.”

“That's a lot of faith you're putting in me.” Despite her words and still doubtful expression, Alex heaved a resigned sigh. “But fine. I get it. It's not like letting that red tin can run around free is an option so the sooner we destroy it, the better.”

Letting out her own relieved sigh, Kara pulled Alex in for a quick and careful hug before letting her go. “Thanks, Alex.”

“You know, you still haven't explained how or why you're so sure the reason it went haywire is because a Coluan hijacked it and not because it was just poorly made,” Alex noted idly as she checked her gun.

Kara stiffened but forced herself to relax when Winn threw her a curious look. “I can't say I'm completely sure that's the case so consider it an educated guess. It's better to assume the worst than be unprepared, right? Anyway, we should get this show on the road. Wish me luck.”

Without waiting for a response, she dashed for the door and launched herself into the sky. The first part of her plan was the most uncertain of all: How was she going to draw the Coluan out? The only solution she had been able to come up with was to all but taunt it – blatantly put herself out in the open and hope that they showed up to kill her sooner rather than later. Her mouth set in a grim line, she flew in the direction of the city centre and began looking for trouble.

Two foiled robberies and one averted head-on collision between two cars later, she heard it: a rapid whirling noise in the air that was different from anything she had heard before. Almost immediately, she was on full alert even before she squinted up at the sky in the direction of the sound and spotted the approaching red figure.

_There you are._

She spared only a few precious seconds to advise the civilians she had just rescued to call an ambulance just in case before she took off, careful to keep a distance from her pursuer. Hopefully the Coluan didn't suspect anything and go back into hiding; her plan relied heavily on the element of surprise and if she missed this opportunity-

The telltale sound of a missile being fired prompted her to swerve sharply to avoid being literally blown out of the sky.

Okay, that was one less thing to worry about. Time to initiate the second part of her plan.

Putting in a burst of speed, she headed for the warehouse where she had set her trap and continued flying straight over it. Only when her estimations put Red Tornado right over the building did she reverse course abruptly, grab the robot and slam it down through the hole in the roof.

“NOW!” she yelled.

At her cue, Alex brought her palm down on the red button next to her and the reverse trapdoor snapped shut on the hole. Now complete, the gigantic Faraday cage came to life around them and even though they were incapable of showing emotion, Kara thought she spotted alarm in the glowing red eyes of her foe.

She smirked and pulled her fist back-

-only to get blasted in the back with a powerful gust of wind that sent her hurtling forward and crashing into some junk she had been too busy to clear away earlier.

“Supergirl!” she heard both Alex and Winn yell in alarm.

“I'm okay!” Kara yelled back as she got back on her feet in time to spot her opponent looking in the direction of her adoptive sister and friend. The Coluan had no doubt picked up on the fact that Winn had created his own back door in Red Tornado's programming and was now working to expel them from the system. “Not so fast,” she growled, speeding over to grab both the robot's arms before it could send a tornado his way. “I'm your opponent, not him.”

A faint humming noise was the reply she got and she quickly tossed the robot clear across the warehouse. It was one second too slow on her part; a missile exploded in her face and she once again found herself a dizzy crumpled heap on the floor.

Shaking off the wooziness, she adjusted her battle strategy. This time, when they clashed, she wrapped her hand around its right wrist and pulled its arm straight. The joints groaned but remained intact... which would have frustrated her if she had intended to yank the appendage out with brute force alone. Instead, she blew a gust of freeze breath directly on its shoulder until it was more ice than metal. One good pull and-

“Oh my god.” Winn's shocked voice cut through the white noise of battle. “The AI is still in there! And it's fighting back!”

“_What?!_” Alex expressed the exact same stunned disbelief Kara was feeling although in Kara's case it proved costly as her opponent broke free from her lax grip and she was summarily backhanded away. “How is that possible?!”

“_I don't know!_” Winn cried, stressed out and just a little panicked. “It's like... like it's alive or something!”

Just like that, Kara's plan went out the window as her perspective of the entire situation was turned on its head.

Red Tornado was not an animated hunk of metal and wires she had to disable or even destroy; it was a hostage and an unwilling participant in this battle – a life she had to rescue.

Desperation more than anything else propelled her back into the fight although this time she was no longer sure what she was supposed to do. “Winn!” she screamed as she grappled with the Coluan-possessed robot. “Help him!”

“I'm trying!” he screamed back. “It's not as easy as you make it sound, okay?!”

Red eyes studied Kara intently and she was sure that if Red Tornado's face allowed for it, the Coluan would have smirked. Her shift in priorities could not be more obvious and they knew as well as she did that they now had a significant advantage.

A shot rang out and the robot flinched as it was struck in the shoulder joint still partially covered with ice which cracked but did not give. Turning to the source of the bullet, Kara found Alex had come closer with her gun drawn and was preparing to fire again. “Alex, no!”

“Supergirl, what you're planning is too risky!” Alex made the mistake of taking her eyes off her target to look Kara's way, and the Coluan seized the opportunity to charge up a tornado blast aimed right at her and Winn.

Kara tackled Red Tornado just before it returned fire, causing the blast of high-powered wind to smash into the section of cage just above Winn's head instead. Letting out a scream, he instinctively ducked his head and brought his arms up to shield himself from the debris raining down on him while the Faraday cage buzzed and sparks began to fly.

One more blast and it was most likely going to cease functioning.

Judging by the way those red eyes were now examining the walls around them and a small tornado was now forming around each hand, the Coluan had figured out the same thing.

No. She couldn't let them escape. She had to stop them. Desperate, she used her superspeed in an attempt to reach it before it could damage the cage any further-

-only to realise at the last second that one arm was pointed directly at Alex.

Her mind conjured up the horrifying image of Alex's mangled body and the fear of losing her adoptive sister drove Kara to pivot so suddenly every muscle in her feet screamed in protest. It didn't matter to her; only Alex's safety did in that moment, and even when the artificial tornado slammed into her back with enough force to make her vision blur she took comfort in the fact that Alex was safe and alive.

That relief was short-lived, however, as the sound of screeching metal and sparks flying reminded Kara of the reality of the situation. Sure enough, the Faraday cage had not only stopped working but the reverse trapdoor she had built over the hole in the roof was hanging wide open.

Except instead of escaping in Red Tornado, a barely visible stream of what looked like shimmering dust came out of the robot, flew upwards through the hole and vanished into the morning sky.

“Oh crap.” Kara's confusion over this turn of events died as quickly as her relief from earlier at the sound of Winn's panicked exclamation. “Guys, get away from that thing _now_!”

“What-” Having glanced over to look at Winn when he had first spoken up, she turned back to find Red Tornado twitching convulsively as if he was having a seizure. “Winn, what's wrong with him?!”

“I-I'm not sure!” Winn shouted as he began furiously typing away again. “I think the Coluan messed with his programming before they left!”

“ERROR. PROTOCOLS COMPROMISED.” Red Tornado's flat and static-filled declaration confirmed Winn's deduction. “ERROR. ERROR. ERROR.”

All thoughts about the escaped Coluan fled Kara's mind as her attention and fears centred themselves on Red Tornado's unexpected circumstance. The sight of his hands beginning to spin even though they weren't aimed at anything in particular sounded alarm bells in her head and she moved to get him under control. “Winn, can you fix him?!”

“I don't-” He cut himself off as a stray blast of wind smashed a hole in the floor only a couple of feet away from his post. “_Ahh!_ I don't know but I can try!”

“Please! Try!” Knowing that Winn needed time to work, Kara grabbed Red Tornado by his arms and struggled to keep his actions restricted.

“Supergirl, stop!” she heard Alex try to caution from behind her. “This is insane! You're going to get hurt for nothing so don't do it!”

“I have to try, Alex!” Staring into the emotionless yellow eyes in front of her, Kara lowered her voice and prayed to Rao that Red Tornado could hear her. “_Please... Fight._ I know you're in there. You can do it. So _fight_.”

“ERROR.” His hands spun erratically, half-formed tornados firing off with no real target. “ERROR. REQUEST TERMINATION.”

The words stunned Kara so much she nearly let go of him. “W-What?” Surely he hadn't meant...

“REQUEST TERMINATION,” he repeated, and without warning used his flight capabilities to break free of her hold completely only to be seized by more spasms. “REQUEST TERMINATION.”

“No!” There was no doubt as to what he was asking of her but Kara didn't want to hear it even as Alex began screaming at her to get out of the way, gun no doubt pointed directly at Red Tornado. “We can save you! Let us save you!”

His head twisted violently and one of his legs tried to independently go into flight mode while both his arms fired off even more tornadoes which were stronger than the ones before into the walls. Whatever the Coluan had done to him, it seemed to be progressively getting worse. It was quite possible that it was taking all his effort to avoid attacking her, Alex or Winn. “REQUEST TERMINATION! REQUEST TERMINATION! REQUEST TERMINATION!”

“_Supergirl!_” Alex's terrified scream only made the feelings of helplessness consuming Kara grow. “There's nothing we can do! Winn says the code's too corrupted! It's too far gone!”

_I can't save him._

The wretched realisation echoed in her head and Red Tornado's repeated emotionless plea was the only thing from the real world that could even come close to drowning it out.

She couldn't save him.

There was only one thing she could do... and she already hated herself for it.

With a primal scream fuelled by all the rage and sorrow in her, she blasted Red Tornado in the chest with the most powerful blast of heat vision she had ever formed. There was nothing else – no conscious thought, no awareness of her surroundings... Nothing besides the awareness that before her was a life that had barely begun and would now end because of her.

All that promise... All that potential... gone, because of her.

He stood with his arms out as if he was welcoming his fate even though objectively it was more likely because all his primary functions were shutting down one by one.

“tHAnk YOu.”

His final words were so faint she wondered if she had imagined them.

Then his yellow eyes dimmed and the last of her strength faded along with her heat vision as he fell.

Alex and Winn were safe. National City would never even know that a rogue military weapon had come so close to wreaking havoc upon it as it was used to attack her. The threat to her life was a concern for another day.

And yet she still felt like she had experienced the worst failure in her superhero career thus far.

* * *

“...What happened next?” Mon-El asked softly.

Kara shuddered in his arms and the golden light shrank even more but she didn't cry again. Perhaps all her tears had been spent... for now, at least. “Winn helped me get home while Alex went to report to Henshaw that Red Tornado... that he'd...”

Deciding that avoiding the topic for now was the best course of action, he carefully sidestepped it and coaxed her to continue her retelling of the day's events. “How did he react? Did he ask any questions?”

To his quiet relief, she shook her head. “No, surprisingly. He just accepted it at face value and told Alex he would deal with General Lane. Alex checked later and apparently the official report is that Red Tornado was completely destroyed so there's nothing left even if they wanted... wanted his remains.”

“That's good.” It perplexed him a little why Henshaw would take such an action but that was something he didn't think was worth contemplating at the moment. Kara's well-being came first – always. “So what are you going to do with him then?”

Another shudder ran through her frame and she curled even tighter into his embrace. “I don't know,” she mumbled, her words muffled almost to the point of being inaudible thanks to her face being buried in his chest. “I can't... It feels... _wrong_... to just... treat him like a... like a _thing_.” Her fists, already wrapped in the tear-soaked fabric of his shirt, tightened their grip further. “Especially after I'm the one who killed him.”

“Kara...” His hand which had been ineffectually rubbing soothing circles into her back moved upwards to stroke her hair. “You tried to save him. When it was clear you couldn't, you showed him mercy. And in the first place, you saw him as a living being instead of just a simple machine. You may be the only one who sees him that way and that is already worth so much.”

“I should've done more.” She gave no indication that she'd heard him. “I wish I could do more. He deserves a funeral. But I can't even do that for him.”

He didn't need her to explain herself to understand her dilemma and the anguish it was causing her. Like every other rite in Kryptonian culture, funerals were deeply rooted in their religion; as such, only those who shared their faith – essentially Kryptonians – could have them. Unfortunately, he could not be of any help either; while his own religion allowed for outsiders to be part of their rituals – notable examples included Dax-Am's grand funeral and, if the heretical tales were to be believed, his latching to Eir Ni – only a priest or priestess was allowed to perform the relevant rites.

Then a thought occurred to him and a very faint flicker of hope for her sake came to life in his chest. “Kara, when was the last time you saw Tae and Sui?”

Confusion overrode the sorrow coming from the golden light, and when she pulled away to meet his gaze it was mirrored in her expression. “What? Why?”

He allowed himself a soft reassuring smile as he cupped her face with one hand and gently brushed away the last traces of her tears from her cheek with his thumb. “Just go to them. Take Red Tornado's body with you and tell them about him. They'll help, I promise.”

* * *

Kara only understood what Mon-El had meant when she did as he had suggested.

“I see,” Tae said simply once Kara had finished speaking before turning to her daughter. “Collect some burei wood for a pyre. Inform everyone there will be a funeral as soon as the preparations are complete.”

As solemn-faced as her mother, Sui bowed deeply. “Understood.”

Disbelief rendered Kara temporarily speechless but she regained some use of her tongue when Sui had taken her leave. “I-I don't... Are you... Is the funeral for...?”

Wise brown eyes blinked in polite puzzlement. “For the one whose body you brought with you, yes. Is that not what you wished to ask of us?”

“I-I-I... W-Well, yes, but...” Kara floundered verbally, too many emotions clouding her heart and mind. “You... Are you sure about this? Is it... Is it really okay?”

Realisation dawned in Tae's eyes and she smiled warmly. “You believe that this one had life. If that is what you believe, then it must be so, and we will honour him as we would any and all who leave this world to journey with the spirits.”

Tears of gratitude and relief blurred Kara's vision. It did not absolve her for her part in Red Tornado's demise but at least she could do this much for him. “Thank you, Tae. I'm in your debt.”

Tae shook her head. “You are a friend of our clan, Kara Zor-El. There is no such thing between us. Now come; if you wish, you may help me prepare the incense.”

It gave her something to do besides be a mere spectator so Kara accepted the offer gladly, following the instructions Tae provided her at every step all the way up to laying Red Tornado's body on the pyre. Then she watched quietly as Sui lit the burei wood while Tae led the Hozz'ni in a low solemn chant.

Her gaze never once strayed from the fire until there was nothing left but ashes and the memory that something more than just wires and code had once existed under the name Red Tornado.

* * *

“For someone who shows up everywhere, you're a hard person to pin down for a chat.”

“I'm sure you of all people can see how those two things might be directly related.”

The two women locked gazes, matching unreadable expressions on their faces. Even though Kara was dressed in her supersuit and floating several feet above the ground, Cat Grant made her feel like they were on equal footing – figuratively and literally – just like always.

Surprisingly, it was Cat who caved first and broke the silence. “So. You've been busy.”

“I'm always busy,” Kara replied evenly, familiar enough with how her boss operated to recognise a fishing expedition especially when she was the target. “I wouldn't be a very good superhero otherwise.”

Cat hummed non-committally but it was a ruse; the predatory gleam in her eyes told Kara she had given the woman the opening she had been looking for without realising it. “Would that by any chance have anything to do with the rumours of a top secret military weapon of some kind going rogue a few days ago?” she asked incisively. “They deny it, of course, but the two people you rescued from that near car crash told my reporter that you left them very abruptly once you'd ensured their safety. Not unusual, of course... except that's not your style. I would know; I've been paying close attention to you. There were no other immediate emergencies in National City and you didn't show up to save the day at any smaller incident anywhere either so it's clearly not that.”

Sometimes Kara wondered if Cat had spies everywhere. Or maybe she was psychic. That was a somewhat terrifying thought. “I try not to have any dealings with the military and I don't see the value in discussing rumours of any kind.”

“That was a non-answer so I'm going to guess that there's a real story in there somewhere,” Cat smirked triumphantly. “I'll give you points for trying to obfuscate; whoever trained you has skill or experience but you're up against _me_. And here I thought that you Supers stood for... what was it again? 'Truth, justice and the American way'?”

The constant comparisons and whatnot between her and Kal-El annoyed her on a general basis but having to hear it to her face from her own boss irked Kara a little too much for her to let it slide. “My cousin and I are different people,” she retorted tersely. “I would appreciate it if you didn't consider us interchangeable.”

“Oh really?” This time, there was genuine curiosity mixed in that ever-hungry look Cat always had when she was on to a big scoop. “Then what do you stand for personally?”

The unexpected question threw Kara off guard, and panic at having been caught so flat-footed nearly drove her to end the interview right then and there, damn the consequences.

Then she suddenly thought of Mon-El who had just needed someone to truly believe in him and his potential – someone to give him the chance to be the good man he had always been deep down.

She thought of Krrrkxx who would not be alive today if no one had tried to reach out to him – to realise that his actions had been driven by desperation instead of malice.

She thought of Red Tornado who did not have anyone else to mourn his passing – to look at him as a living being even though he was made of metal and wires instead of flesh and bone.

And just like that she knew exactly what she stood for.

“Hope, help and compassion for all.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know the Karamel content in this chapter was a bit lacking but I needed to move the plot (and certain other things) along so I hope you enjoyed that at least. In case you missed it, I wrote a short PiaD-compliant future fic for my prompt fic collection (it's the third one) so if you're hankering for some PiaD!Karamel content, feel free to check that out if you haven't done so already. See you all in the next update and stay safe!
> 
> Season 1 Rant of the Chapter:  
Red Tornado deserved better than to be treated as a disposable single-episode plot device. And I say this as someone who knows the bare minimum about him.


	11. Blindside

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes the greatest threats come from the most unexpected places.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone. Sorry if my long silence worried you; I've been busy and this chapter was not the easiest to write for... reasons you'll soon find out. Hopefully the next one will give me less trouble so I can finish it faster. Also, please continue to take all the necessary precautions no matter where you are in the world and especially if you're doing anything that puts you in close proximity with strangers. In the meantime, please enjoy the chapter... as much as you are able to, anyway...

By the time Kara remembered the Arredathi computer, it was already a new Earth year.

She had initially made the purchase as part of her plan to capture the Coluan but after everything that had transpired, dealing with the remains of her trap had been the last thing on her mind. If everything had worked out as she had intended, Winn would no doubt have begged to be allowed to have it or even just borrow it for a while every now and then. Instead, he had recognised that it was neither the time nor place to make such a request and instead quietly given her his support when she had needed it.

Now that she had had the time to fully process Red Tornado's death at her hands, however, her mind had pointed out the valuable opportunity that had been left behind:

The Arredathi computer she had given Winn to use had a perfect copy of Red Tornado's programming – both its original and corrupted forms.

In other words, she finally had something to compare against the data from her pod for the purpose of isolating the Coluan's digital fingerprints and consequently identify how they had set her back on her journey to Earth.

Guilt followed that realisation almost immediately. Was it exploitative if she did this? Would using the last remaining evidence of his existence in this self-serving way make her no better than the Coluan? Did she even have the right considering she was the one who had ended his life?

Her conscience warred with itself endlessly, and when it seemed like a decision would never be reached without some outside input, she went looking for an outside perspective.

Unfortunately for her, Mon-El did not provide the guidance she had come to expect from him. “I can't – or rather shouldn't – help you with this,” was his simple reply when she finished outlining her dilemma.

“Why not?” she asked somewhat incredulously. “This affects you directly!”

“That's _precisely_ why,” he told her gently as he cupped her face and the blue-grey energy reached out to wind itself around her turbulent thoughts. “Kara... Whatever I say would come from a place of bias. I want to be free of this place as much as you want to rescue me from it but if telling you to go through with it when you're clearly torn up about it would be selfish of me. At the same time, I know that saying you shouldn't do it because of how you feel about the whole thing would only make you feel even more guilty about... well, _everything_. And that is _definitely_ something I don't want.”

“Sometimes I think I hate how well you know me,” she mumbled, her heart a tangled mess of emotions.

He chuckled and drew her in for a hug that she reciprocated. “So you've told me numerous times.” There was a pause, and when he spoke up again there was a note of seriousness in his otherwise soft voice. “Whatever you decide, I want you to know that you'll always have my support.”

In the end, it was Eve who had come to the rescue.

Being the perceptive individual that she was, Eve almost instantly picked up on Kara's inner turmoil the next time they met for a girls-only outing. Very little persuasion had been needed to convince Kara to share her most recent problem and Eve listened silently throughout the whole story.

“I'll admit you have quite the conundrum there,” Eve said after a relatively long period of quiet contemplation before she squared her shoulders and scrutinised Kara carefully. “If you don't mind me asking, what are you going to do with that... programming?... you have if you decide not to use it?”

Kara shrugged helplessly. “I can't exactly use it for anything else and it's not like I can give it back to the military so... nothing?”

Eve hummed thoughtfully and took a sip of her strawberry milkshake before she continued. “Does the same thing apply to the computer? Are you going to use it? Salvage it for parts? Let it collect dust somewhere?”

“Well, I suppose I could just... sell it back to the person I bought it from,” Kara speculated out loud, a little unsure where Eve was going with this.

Luckily, Eve clarified that with her next question. “So it'll all just... go to waste?” At Kara's stunned expression, she waved her hands in a pacifying manner. “I'm not trying to make anything resembling an accusation and I'm really sorry if it comes off that way but... He's gone, Kara. Regardless of whether you use it or not, he's not coming back-” She stopped and furrowed her brow. “Wait, _can_ you bring him back? Recreate him from whatever you have and stick him in another robot?”

“No,” Kara answered with a subdued shake of her head. “I mean, I could but... It wouldn't be the same. _He_ probably wouldn't be the same. It's like... cloning, I guess; even though their code would be identical, there's no guarantee they'll turn out the same way. I'm not even sure how and when he gained sentience and that might not happen again.”

“That's unfortunate. But if you'll excuse the bluntness, that makes it easier in a way.” At Kara's puzzled frown, Eve reached out with both hands to clasp Kara's own across the diner table. “Kara, you told me you're the one who killed him but I think if we could ask him now, he'll probably say that you saved him instead. I know I'm presuming a lot but if it were me... If I'd died because of someone's cruel actions, I'd want my death to not have been in vain. I'd want it to have _meant_ something – anything aside from just a reason to mourn. And if it was possible, I'd want to be able to help catch that person from beyond the grave too.” Her gaze sharpened. “You can do that, can't you? With whatever you get from that computer?”

The spectre of Ross Vilcreek hung over them, name unsaid but presence felt all the same; although he remained locked away in prison, he was a still topic neither of them ever brought up unless it was absolutely necessary... and it looked like this was one of those times.

“Yes.” Kara carefully squeezed Eve's hands with a determined look on her face. “I can. I will.”

Eve smiled softly. “Then I guess that means you've made your decision.”

“I have. Thanks, Eve.” Then Kara remembered that she had not in fact been the one to arrange for this get-together and smacked herself on the forehead. “Oh god, I'm so sorry. You called because you wanted to tell me something and I totally hijacked the conversation with my problems.”

“It's fine,” Eve waved off Kara's apology with her free hand. “I'm the one who asked you what was on your mind after all.”

“Well, we've gotten that settled now so I'm all ears. What was it you were so excited to tell me?” Kara asked with genuine curiosity.

A spark of giddy excitement lit up Eve's eyes. “Okay, so I told you that to celebrate the completion of our train project, my company set up a little lucky draw as a reward for each of our parts in its success, right? Guess what I won.”

“Not steak knives, I'm guessing,” Kara joked although she could feel herself getting caught up in the moment.

Eve shook her head and her smile became just a little manic. “Tickets for the train's maiden voyage!”

Both girls emitted matching squeals of delight following the reveal, drawing more than a few gazes their way which they didn't even register.

“Eve!” It was taking Kara a great deal of concentration not to squeeze her best friend's hands too tightly. “That's amazing! I'm so happy and excited for you!”

Since she lacked super-strength and thus did not have the same problem, Eve gripped Kara's hands as hard as she could and even shook them a little. “Thanks! I still can't believe I got it, you know? I mean, literally everyone got a chance and the tickets were only one of the many prizes available so scoring them was really a one in a million kind of thing.”

“I think you just used up all your luck for this year in one go then,” Kara laughed. “I'm guessing you're going to take your parents?”

“Of course. Dad's been talking Mom's ear off about the train for a while now and she won't admit it but she's pretty interested in it too although she'll say it's only because of me.” Eve's smile turned teasing. “I'd give you the fourth ticket but you're already used to travelling at superspeed so I imagine it won't be all that fun for you.”

Kara puffed up her chest and put on an air of exaggerated superiority. “I bet I'm still faster.”

“I'm sure you are,” Eve replied dryly.

A thought occurred to Kara then and excitement seized her again but for a different reason. “So... Who _are_ you going to give that ticket to?”

One of Eve's eyebrows arched. “I know where you're going with this, Kara. You're seriously so obvious about it I sometimes wonder how you manage to keep _any_ of your many secrets.”

“But it's a good idea!” Kara whined. “You know Winn's been going crazy about the train too and the two of you seem to be getting along better now! Won't you at least consider it? _Please?_”

Eve narrowed her eyes and took another long deliberate sip of her milkshake before she spoke. “I'll think about it if you go do what you decided to do immediately after you finish work today. No more doubts. Do we have a deal?”

“Deal,” Kara sighed as she held her hands up in surrender, and kept her end of their bargain as promised with no small amount of nervousness and a touch of lingering guilt.

An agonising couple of hours followed once she connected the Arredathi computer to her own jury-rigged setup and waited for the analysis to finish.

What greeted her at the end of that painfully long wait, however, was not exactly what she had been expecting.

* * *

Returning to the dream world almost always improved Kara's mood no matter the kind of day she had had... but this time, the sense of comfort that seeing Mon-El again granted her could not completely erase the heaviness in her heart. It didn't help that she found him doing nothing more than lying on the grass with his eyes closed and humming along to an upbeat tune she didn't recognise.

The peacefulness of his expression proved too great a temptation, and so she decided to alert him to her presence by lying down and snuggling up against him.

His entire body jerked and the music stuttered but both lasted for only a moment before he realised it was her and the melody continued. “Hey there,” he murmured as he wrapped an arm around her waist. “Everything okay?”

“Hi,” she mumbled, reluctant to open her eyes but doing so anyway to meet his gaze and give him her full attention as he deserved. “Yeah, it was just... a long day.”

Concern creased his brow as he raised his free hand to brush her hair out of her face before cradling her jaw and initiating their connection in the process. “What happened?”

“I decided to do it,” she confessed, hoping that he would understand like usual without her needing to elaborate.

True to form, his confusion lasted for a very brief moment before it was replaced by understanding and the blue-grey energy doubled its efforts to soothe her mind. “That must have been a hard decision for you to make.”

“Eve got me to tell her what was weighing on my mind when we met up for lunch today and gave me some good advice.” She paused to take a breath and let it out in a gusty sigh. “I'm not sure I would've been able to make a choice otherwise.”

“You're not giving yourself enough credit like usual,” he gently rebuked her as his thumb brushed her cheek. “I mean, we both know you overthink everything until you're halfway to driving yourself crazy but you always figure it all out eventually.”

She scowled at the description, unwilling to admit the truth in his statement. “It's called thoroughly evaluating the situation at hand in order to make the most educated decision, okay?”

“All right, all right, if that's what you insist it is,” he capitulated although the bemusement trickling through their connection hinted that it was merely lip service. Before she could act on her sudden and very justified urge to hit him, however, his expression turned serious. “So did it not work? Because I feel like you'd be a lot happier if you had succeeded.”

The neutral way he'd said it made her wonder if he was keeping his disappointment from her because it would make her feel even more guilty or had secretly resigned himself to failure all this while. “No, it's not that it didn't work. I managed to find out what the Coluan did to my pod and replicate the signal they used. It's...” She closed her eyes and hid her face in his shoulder before she finished. “All they did was reactivate my pod's autopilot; it probably didn't matter to them whether I was headed for Earth or any other planet in the universe. That's all the signal does: cause the receiving vehicle to resume its journey to wherever it was supposed to go.”

“Oh.”

Mon-El's voice was once again unreadable, and the blue-grey energy failed to shed any light on how he felt about this latest development. It made her a little anxious, and for once Kara found herself thinking that their mental connection worked more in his favour than hers. “It's all ready,” she mumbled, hoping that neither her voice nor her thoughts were betraying her true feelings at the moment. “All you have to do is ask and... and I'll send the signal to your shuttle.”

Somehow, the blue-grey energy managed to become even more still. “...But we don't know where my shuttle was supposed to be going before it got trapped in the Well of Stars.”

She squeezed her eyes even tighter shut and tightened her grip on his shirt. “I know.”

By then, the music had been replaced by complete silence but the change went unnoticed. The reality of the situation lay bare before them so there was no need for anything to be said... and yet they both knew that avoiding the subject would only delay the inevitable.

It was he who found the courage to say something first. “I'm okay with being here a little longer. I want you to know that.”

His quiet reassurance irritated her mostly because she knew how sincere he was about it. “You've been here long enough.” There was more bite in her words than she intended, and she mentally cursed herself even as she struggled to get her emotions under control. “There's a solution now and it's literally a push of a button away. I...” _I don't want to be selfish._ “I want to keep my promise to you at last just like I said I would years ago.”

“And you will.” The gentleness of his voice was matched by the blue-grey energy curling around her thoughts and the caress of his thumb against her cheek. When she dared to open her eyes again, she found him smiling softly at her. “I have no doubt about that. But it doesn't have to be _this_ way.”

“What other option is there?” she asked, partly frustrated and partly hopeful that there was in fact a better alternative.

“The Coluan is still out there somewhere,” he reminded her. “They might not have intended to end up on Earth when they reactivated your pod but there's a chance that they know how to create a signal that will not just get my shuttle moving again but also alter its original destination. It's a small possibility, I know, but I think it's worth exploring.”

She could see the logic behind his words but it did little to ease her worries. “Are you okay with this?”

His smile didn't change even as a tendril of blue-grey energy prodded her mind in a somewhat teasing manner and he shifted so that their foreheads were touching. “Yes. Because believe it or not, I want to be with you when I finally wake up from this dream.”

Implied in that simple statement were three little words he had never once said in all the years since they had first confessed their feelings for each other. It had bothered her to some extent at the beginning, she was willing to admit, but time and the many other ways he expressed the same sentiment had helped her come to terms with it. She knew; that was enough, and life had taught her to never be greedy for more especially when it came to him. “I want that too,” she whispered.

The warmth of his smile chased away the last traces of doubt clinging to her mind. “Then it's agreed?”

She wanted so badly to kiss him right then and there but held back because she knew if she did, she'd never stop until she lost herself in him entirely. “As long as you're really okay with waiting a little longer.”

“I am.” His lips were so close to hers she could almost taste the words falling from them, and the way he was looking at her suggested he was fighting the same urge as her. “You're worth it, Kara. You're worth all of it.”

_I love you too._ With that simple thought, she finally gave in and kissed him.

* * *

With the capture of the Coluan once again her ticket to rescuing Mon-El, Kara began directing all her focus and spare time towards coming up with a new plan. There was no doubt she had tipped her hand with her previous attempt and her target would now be twice as careful moving forward. It didn't matter, however; even if she took her personal motivations out of the equation, the issue of a dangerous alien with unknown objectives – aside from wanting her dead, that is – still roaming free was reason enough to bring them in.

Besides, she owed Red Tornado that much at the very least.

Unfortunately for her, the universe felt no obligation to make her life any easier.

“Hey.” Winn's attempt to be inconspicuous with his whispering and furtive glancing around the office only made him look even more suspicious although thankfully no one noticed. “I need to talk to you about something.”

A sense of foreboding overcame Kara. As much as she wanted to poke a little fun at his behaviour if only to lighten the mood, something told her it wasn't the time or place. “What is it?”

“So...” He coughed into his closed fist and gave their surroundings another visual sweep before he leaned in. “I've been reading some NCPD emails...”

Her concern was immediately and temporarily replaced with exasperation. “Winn, you promised you'd stop hacking their... well, _everything_.”

To his credit, he at least looked a little guilty about it. “I know... b-but I don't do it every single day or anything like that! I just thought that, you know, it would be a good idea to see if there was anything Supergirl might need to be aware of-”

“_Winn_,” she cut him off with a severe look. “Just tell me what you found out.”

“R-Right.” His guilt-fuelled nervousness disappeared and he became uncharacteristically serious. “Apparently some local anti-alien group calling themselves The True Heirs – yeah, ridiculous name, I know – sent the mayor a list of demands the other day and if they're not met...”

There was no need for him to finish that sentence, and Kara was filled with a kind of dread she had never experienced before. “Were you able to get any specific details?”

He shook his head grimly. “They don't have much beyond the general 'You'll regret not taking us seriously' stuff.”

“I was worried you'd say that.” She chewed on her bottom lip as she tried to figure out a solution but gave up when nothing came to mind. As much as she wished it was not the case, the only thing they could do now was wait until there was more information. “All right, I'll let it go this time. Keep an eye on the situation and let me know the moment you – or more like they – have more to go on.”

“Got it.” Winn paused as a contemplative look crossed his face. “Do you think we should tell James? I mean, lately he's been a little...”

Once again, the rest of his sentence was fully understood without another word needing to be said. Lucy Lane's arrival in National City had been one thing but when it was revealed that she would be staying behind to deal with the fallout of the Red Tornado project, James had not been his usual self. Not helping matters was the fact that Ms Grant had been the one to break the story about 'yet another appalling failure of the US military and a waste of taxpayer money', resulting in more than one meeting between both women in CatCo and consequently the occasional run-in between Lucy and James.

To say that James had been affected by all this would be an understatement. At work and even whenever their little group managed to spend time together, he was tense and distracted, barely listening to anything that was said and almost always failing to respond immediately when addressed. No one ever drew attention to his behaviour but it was clear what – or who – was on his mind for better or worse.

“Maybe when we have more to go on,” Kara suggested. “Right now, all we have is a vague threat and they could just be bluffing.” There was also the fact that she wasn't sure if James would be of much help the way he was now but it didn't seem polite to mention that.

Winn scrunched up his face at her suggestion. “Yeah, I hope we're that lucky. But don't worry,” he declared with conviction as he pumped his fist in the air, “I'll keep you updated.”

She smiled. “Thanks, Winn. And sorry in advance if this cuts into any plans you might have had.”

“Hey, I'm helping Supergirl save the day,” he said with a grin and a shrug. “I think that takes priority over even being one of the first people to ride on National City's first super-train.”

That got her attention. “Eve offered you her extra ticket?” she blurted out in surprised and somewhat excited shock.

Stunned by her response, he blinked silently a few times before answering. “Wait, how do you know about- Oh, right. Dumb question.” He glanced away and scratched the back of his head with one hand, the very picture of awkward. “Yeah, she, uh... she said something about not having anyone to give it to and not wanting it to go to waste so... yeah.” Then he winced. “Not that it matters any more with this situation on our hands.”

“I really am sorry about this, Winn,” she said, full of regret for the loss of not only his opportunity to fulfil a dream but also the opportunity for her two friends to potentially get closer together. “I promise I'll make it up to you somehow since you're going to miss out in a way because of me.”

“It's fine, really,” he assured her. “Like I said, this thing – whatever it might be – takes priority. Plus, it's not like the train's only going to be operational this one time so there'll be plenty of other opportunities in the future. Anyway.” He stood upright and stuck both his thumbs out at her as he slowly backed away in the direction of his desk. “The moment I find out more about you know what, I'll let you know and you can do your thing like always.”

Despite Winn's characteristic optimism, Kara could not shake the feeling of unease overtaking her that only continued to grow as the days passed. Nothing Winn unearthed about The True Heirs gave the indication that they were mere poseurs and in fact reinforced her fear that they really would follow through with their threats. When he called her in a panic one night to tell her that the FBI had actually sent an agent to help NCPD assess the situation, she knew that the worst case scenario was worryingly close to becoming a reality.

“I wish I could say you can count on the DEO to back you up,” Alex said with a mixture of regret and bitterness when Kara brought her adoptive sister into the loop, “but since this doesn't have anything to do with aliens, it's not under our jurisdiction. I'll see what I can do with whatever resources I have though. In the meantime, just stay alert and don't stress yourself out too much.”

It was sound advice but Kara found it difficult to follow for what she thought was understandable reasons. An imminent threat loomed over National City but all she could do was apparently wait for it to strike. That, she found, was the part that was the most agonising of all; as Mon-El had once told her with a fair amount of fond exasperation, she was built for action, and in a situation as dire as this, that was truer than ever.

“Supergirl, come in!”

Winn's panicked voice forced her to come to a complete stop in the middle of a routine patrol across National City's night sky. “Winn, what is it?” she asked urgently.

“Bombs!” He sounded like he was on the verge of a breakdown. “T-The True Heirs planted-”

A loud explosion in the direction of the industrial district drowned out the rest of his sentence while emphasising his message at the same time.

Her blood turned into ice in her veins.

“Winn! Tell me you know where they are!” she yelled even as she flew as fast as she was able in the direction of the raging inferno. “The industrial district is on fire so I'm assuming that's one of them?”

“Y-Yeah! T-The, uh, the FBI agent – Neil? Noelle? – managed to find one of the group's members and make them talk. I tapped her phone-”

He was babbling, and under less stressful circumstances she would have appreciated the complete breakdown of his less than legal methods of assisting her but that was not the case today. “Winn!” she cut him off with an authoritative tone just before she reached the burning factory. “Just the key details please!”

“R-Right! Sorry!” There was the sound of him drawing one deep shaky breath after another, and she took the opportunity to focus on the chaos in front of her. “S-So, um, the guy says each of them was given their own assignments separately so he doesn't know where the rest of the bombs are. B-But they're all identical – each one has a timer and a secondary trigger connected to a burner phone.”

Her first attempt to reply was complicated by a plume of thick black smoke that sent her into a brief coughing fit and prompted him to ask if she was all right. “I'm fine, it was just a bit of smoke. I've got the fire here mostly under control and the fire engines are close. Please tell me you know how many more bombs there are and that there's a way to locate them.”

“Right. Uh, long story short, yes, just- just give me a minute here... Okay, there's one in the airport – the Knox Air Terminal, to be precise – and the other is...” There was a dreaded pause. “...Oh god. It's on the train.”

“The train?” she echoed in confusion. “Which-”

Then the answer came to her in a flash and her fear multiplied a hundredfold.

_Eve._

“Supergirl!” An unfamiliar woman's voice close by brought Kara back to the harsh reality around her and she looked up to find a firefighter jogging towards her. “Thanks for getting here first!”

“It's not a problem. Can you handle things from here?” Kara asked as she tried to keep the terror threatening to consume her out of her voice. “There's somewhere else that needs my help right now.”

“We've got this!” the firefighter assured her. “Go save the day!”

“Thanks!” Without wasting another second, Kara shot off into the sky, waiting only long enough to make sure she was out of normal hearing range before speaking to Winn again. “Winn, I can't be in two places at once so call Alex and ask her if she can help with the airport situation! Then see what you can do about jamming the phone signals there so they can't blow it up remotely! I'm going after the bomb on the train!”

“Got it!”

The line clicked shut but she barely heard it over the roar of the wind as she launched herself in the general direction of Lord's super-train. If her estimate was right, it had already left the station and its full speed of 500 kilometres an hour.

Time was not going to be the only thing she was racing against tonight.

_Please_, she thought desperately as she pushed herself to the limit, _please let me make it in time._

A sliver of relief cut through the panic when the speeding train finally came into view but she didn't allow herself to relax just yet. Slowing down just enough to match its speed, she listened until her enhanced hearing picked up the exact voice she had been looking for before landing on the right carriage and slipping in through the roof access panel.

“Supergirl!” The man in the sharp-looking uniform who she could only assume was part of the train's crew gave her a smile that conveyed pleasant surprise. “What brings you by?”

“Hi.” Kara offered him a tight smile even as her gaze darted away from his face to scan the others in the carriage until she spotted the three people she had been looking for. While her parents looked innocently curious, Eve was clearly trying not to let her concern show on her face, having correctly deduced that this was not a friendly visit. “I just need a quick chat with-” she glanced at his name-tag, “-Stanley here. Everyone, please stay calm.”

“What's going on?” The smile slipped from Stanley's face as he slowly came to the realisation that her presence did not bode well for him and everyone else on the train. “Something's wrong, isn't it?”

“There is a problem,” she admitted although she kept what she hoped was an expression that projected calm reassurance on her face, “but I'm here to fix it. First things first: Is there a way to stop this train?”

He paled a little and shook his head. “N-No. It's designed to be fully automated and there aren't going to be stops at any of the stations except the last one for tonight.”

“Supergirl?” The all too familiar voice momentarily drew Kara's attention away from Stanley and the dangerous predicament they were dealing with, and sure enough she found none other than Eve standing before her. “What's wrong?”

Eve would probably be able to handle it but the same could not be said for Stanley who looked like he was close to passing out so Kara kept the details light for now. Besides, she didn't want anyone close by to even suspect that they actually knew each other. “There's a situation and I could use another set of hands. Can I count on you to help Stanley here to get all the other passengers to...” she paused and scanned both ends of the train until she found one of her targets, “...the very back of the train?”

“You can count on me,” Eve replied with conviction before she turned her attention to a now shaking Stanley and placed a reassuring hand on his arm. “Come on, Stanley. I'd rather not do this alone.” She gently tugged him into motion but stopped herself to lock gazes with Kara. “Be careful, Supergirl.”

“I will,” Kara promised as she gave Eve the best smile she could muster, and it took some effort to turn away and head back out the roof access panel. Eve, her parents and everyone else on this train were going to be fine; she was going to make sure of that personally.

She had to.

Tapping her earpiece, she only waited long enough for the familiar click of the call connecting before she started speaking. “Winn, I'm on the train. Update me,” she said over the roar of the wind as she scanned the train in hopes of spotting any suspicious-looking individuals.

“NCPD found the bomb and the bomb squad's defused it,” Winn was all too happy to announce. “Oh, and Alex found the triggerman and handed him over so he's in custody now.”

Kara let herself breathe a little easier at that. “That's good. Any chance you can help me out here now? I know where the bomb is and I've gotten some help moving the passengers away from it but I can't make a move until I know there's no risk of a triggerman detonating it early.”

“Yeah, I know, I'm working on it. Just one more minute...” The sound of keys clacking furiously away took over followed by an exclamation of triumph. “There! Okay, I'm going to give our little wannabe terrorist a call so look out for anyone whose phone starts ringing in three, two, one-”

On cue, her enhanced hearing picked up the sound of a ringtone chirping, and she zeroed in on it to find a man fumbling as he tried to dig something out of his coat pocket. He had only just managed to pull the device out of his pocket when she descended upon him with the speed and fury of a thunderbolt, knocking him out with one punch and crushing the phone in the span of a second.

Then she heard the gasps of shock, looked up and realised how it looked to someone unaware of the situation... like the carriage full of passengers currently staring at her.

“It's okay, everyone.” Wearing her brightest smile and waving a little awkwardly, she tried to clear the air without causing a panic. “I promise this man is a criminal and my actions were necessary. Now could all of you please start moving to the back of the train in a calm and orderly fashion? There's a situation on board and I would really appreciate your cooperation.”

For a moment, no one moved but then a young boy got to his feet and tugged his parents along without saying a word, and soon everyone was following suit.

“Thank you, everyone. And don't worry, everything's under control.” As the last of the passengers left the carriage, she shoved the unconscious triggerman into the toilet and broke the lock before shifting her focus back to her main objective. _Figures he'd be at the frontmost carriage_, she thought grimly to herself. _He must have wanted to make sure no one accidentally discovered the bomb before it was too late._

Marching up to the door separating her from the driver's compartment, she forced the doors open and was immediately greeted with the sight of the insidious object in question. The relief she felt at finding it disappeared as quickly as it had manifested when her gaze fell on the timer and she cursed under her breath.

With less than thirty seconds left before catastrophe struck, she grabbed the bomb and busted a hole in the roof, flying straight up as high and as fast as she could before tossing her dangerous cargo with all her might.

National City's night sky was momentarily lit up in bright orange when the bomb exploded like a firework, and while the heat didn't affect her the force of the blast managed to send her hurtling backwards a little.

“Supergirl!” Winn's distraught voice registered once she managed to shake away the ringing in her ears. “Supergirl, are you okay?!”

“I'm fine, Winn. Please don't yell,” she begged with a wince as she resisted the urge to yank out her earpiece. “Can you tell Alex I'm all right too? Because I'm pretty sure you beat her by a nanosecond and I need to make sure the guy I locked in the toilet didn't manage to escape.”

“Yeah, sure. And, uh, I know you're going to do it anyway since... you know... but, uh... check on Eve and her parents for me, would you?” he added with no small amount of awkwardness.

“Of course I will.” It took reminding herself that she really did have to see this situation through to the end properly to stop her mind from overanalysing his concern. “Thanks for all your help tonight, Winn.”

“Don't mention it.”

The call ended there and she shot off again after the train which had resumed its journey, and by the time she caught up it had already stopped at its intended destination.

“Supergirl.” Of course, the person she least wanted but should have most expected to see was the one to greet her when she touched down. “I knew you'd show up to save the day.”

“Mr Lord.” For someone whose grand project had come so close to literally blowing up less than a minute ago, Kara thought he looked a little too self-satisfied. “I'm glad you and all your passengers are all right. I'm here to-”

“-fetch a certain suspicious individual from the toilet you locked him in?” he finished for her, a smug, all-knowing smirk on his face. “Yes, I had my security team get him out and turn him over to the police the moment we stopped. We're perfectly capable of doing sensible things like that without needing you to direct us.”

She scowled a little at his tone but refrained from making any caustic remarks. Aside from the gaggle of passengers including Eve and her parents watching them, there was also the swarm of reporters waiting just beyond the station doors to think about. Considering the amount of media scrutiny she had to endure constantly, behaving poorly now would most certainly be a bad idea. “That's good to hear,” she replied through gritted teeth. “In that case, I'll take my leave now.” She would call Eve later just to check on how she and her parents were coping but right now, showing that she was okay would have to be enough.

“By the way...” His smooth voice stopped her just as she was about to leap into the night sky, and when she turned there was something about the way he was looking at her that put her on edge. “Thank you. For everything you've done today.”

“...You're welcome,” she forced herself to reply as neutrally as possible before flying off.

However, his words and demeanour stuck with her even after she had arrived home, changed and called everyone who needed reassurance directly from her that she was all right. Lord had made his opinion on her quite clear on numerous occasions over the past few months and his attitude earlier was unsurprising but there had also been something... different... about it this time. If she didn't know better, it was almost as if... as if... he knew something she didn't.

The thought unsettled her more than she liked.

_It's nothing_, she tried to tell herself as she paced in her living area while St'rki took lazy swipes at her whenever she came close to where he was lying on the couch. _He just said those things to get under your skin. You're being paranoid._

But no matter how many times she repeated those thoughts in her head, her unease did not abate. Instead, it grew to the point where she found herself making a truly irrational decision that she was sure Mon-El would try to dissuade her from pursuing if he were present.

_I'll pretend I'm just following up on the train incident_, she began making excuses as she flew in the direction of Lord's luxurious home – an address she only knew because CatCo had once done a piece on the residence when it had been completed. _As long as I maintain a business-like front and don't give him any reason to suspect I have an ulterior motive, it should be fine._

As she approached the hilltop mansion of her least favourite person in National City, she noticed that one set of glass doors were wide open yet there was no one outside. The paranoia she had been doing her best to suppress heightened at the sight, and a small voice at the back of her head began screaming at her to leave – to go home right this second and forget she had ever contemplated this course of action. Why her brain was telling her this eluded her but somehow she knew that it was true with absolute certainty.

Yet still she landed and walked inside.

“My, my.” Maxwell Lord didn't even look up when she entered what looked like a home office – that was the only explanation she could come up with for all the large screens decorating the walls – as he poured himself a drink from a crystal decanter. “Two meetings in one night, Supergirl? I'm starting to think you might have a thing for me.”

Under normal circumstances, she would likely have taken the bait and gotten irritated at the patently false insinuation but it only served to make her more wary. There it was again: that feeling as if there was something she wasn't seeing and she had ended up playing right into his hands somehow.

“_I knew you'd show up to save the day.”_

He'd been expecting her. First to deal with the bomb on the train and now standing here talking to him in his own home. She didn't know how he could have foreseen both meetings just as she didn't know how she was so sure of this but her instincts told her that it was the undeniable truth.

The smirk curving his lips widened when he finally met her gaze as if her thoughts had been written all across her face. “No questions for me? Because I expected you to have a few at the very least considering you studied journalism of all things.”

Her heart stopped.

_No._ The urge to flee was overwhelming but her feet might as well have been nailed to the floor with Nth metal spikes. _This can't be. He can't possibly know._ “I-I don't know what you're talking about,” she tried to deny, cursing her inability to keep her voice from shaking.

“Is that so, Supergirl?” He paused to take a long leisurely sip from his glass. “Or should I say... Kara Danvers?”

The world came crashing down around her at the sound of her human name, and she took an involuntary step backwards as her fight or flight instincts shifted into high gear. Distantly, she could feel Mon-El trying to reach her through their connection but his concern and faint attempt to comfort her failed to have any effect. _No. Nonononono._ “I-I don't-”

His free hand tapped the keyboard on his desk, causing the screens around them to come to life, and what was displayed on them made her sick with perfectly justified fear.

Alex, Eliza, Eve, Winn, Ms Grant, James, the Teschmachers, even Mrs Needleberg... Personal pictures and surveillance photos of everyone close to her flashed across every screen except one which cycled between pictures of Kara Danvers and Supergirl. Interspersed between them were results of all kinds of analyses – height and voice comparisons, triangulations based on estimated top speed, recorded sightings matched with CatCo event dates and times – that made it almost impossible to deny the connection between both individuals.

“I have to say I expected it to take me longer to find the definitive answer I was looking for,” he said as if they were discussing some mundane topic like the weather, “but things... Well, they just fell so perfectly into place for me I'd call it a miracle if I believed in them. You see, I was the one behind that fake bomb at the launch party of Cat's Supergirl bumper issue. All I expected to get out of that incident was data and I admit, when you showed up so quickly my first thought was that you'd intentionally kept tabs on the event for whatever reason. Vanity, maybe.”

His shark-like smile momentarily disappeared behind his glass again, and she knew in that moment how prey felt before they were ripped to shreds.

“Except Samantha kept talking about how worried she was about someone named Kara Danvers – specifically, Cat's personal assistant – because she was nowhere to be found in the chaos. Of course, that could have meant nothing – it was a pretty huge crowd, after all – but I started to wonder: What if there _was_ something there? After all, Supergirl seemed to favour CatCo – or rather Cat specifically – when it came to giving exclusive coverage. So I started paying attention and what do you know? Seconds after Supergirl leaves, Kara Danvers can suddenly be spotted in the crowd. Again, it wasn't conclusive but it was a possibility worth pursuing. So I did, and every bit of data I collected supported that conclusion. But I had to be sure. Tell me, did you in any way expect something like this when your dear friend Ms Teschmacher told you about those tickets she'd won? I suspect the answer would be 'no'.” He gestured around them with his glass. “And now here we-”

There was the sharp crack of gunfire, and both his glass and the screen behind him shattered as they flinched at the unexpected burst of chaos.

Heart hammering away in her chest, Kara spun on her heels towards the source of the gunshot and stared at the unexpected third party who had joined them. “Alex?!”

Eyes focused entirely on Lord instead of Kara, the expression on Alex's face could only be described as pure fury. “I should have known,” she snarled and took a step towards him, her gun aimed squarely at his head. “The past couple of months, I had this feeling like I was being watched. I couldn't figure out who was doing it and why. Then I saw that interview you gave after your train nearly got blown up. Everything you said _sounded_ normal but something about it just seemed _off_. Like the praise. You _hate_ Supergirl. Everyone knows that. And yet there you were, thanking her like you were her biggest fan.”

“Exposed by the cover-up.” By then, Lord had recovered his composure and was smirking again, apparently unfazed by the gun pointed at him. “I guess I should've been more careful. By the way, welcome to the party, Agent Alexandra Danvers of the Department of Extranormal Operations. I'd offer you a drink but I'm afraid you might shoot that glass too and my poor carpet has suffered enough for one night.”

“Shut up, bastard.” In a heartbeat, Alex had crossed the room and grabbed a fistful of his shirt as she pressed her gun under his chin. “Just give me an excuse. I _dare_ you.”

“_Alex._” A different kind of panic threatened to consume Kara as she tried to intervene without breaking anyone's bones. “Alex, _please_. Please stop. You can't-” _-kill him_, she wanted to say but the words got stuck in her throat. Surely Alex wouldn't... would she?

“He knows your secret.” Alex kept her gaze firmly fixed on Lord, and it was clear she wanted so badly to beat him to within an inch of his life at the very least. “We can't trust him to keep it.”

“I know that, Alex, but _please_,” Kara begged, gripping her adoptive sister's arm with as much strength as she could afford, “there's nothing we can do about it.”

The corner of Alex's mouth twitched, and in the partial darkness it looked unsettlingly menacing. “No. Not 'we'. Just you. _I_-” she dug the barrel of her gun harder into the flesh under his jaw, causing him to wince just a little, “-can drop him into a deep hole of a black site where no one will ever find him.”

“Spoken like a true puppet of a government organisation – a clandestine one at that.” Even with his life under threat, Lord still managed to sneer. “The alphabets may be different but you're all the same in the end.”

Kara ignored him, keeping her attention focused on Alex instead. “No. I... I can't let you do that, Alex. Even if you could somehow avoid getting into trouble with the DEO for it, it's still the wrong thing to do. And I won't... I won't let you go down this road because of me.”

This time, Alex did meet Kara's pleading gaze, her rage, frustration and incomprehension as plain as day on her face. “I'm your big sister. Protecting you is what I'm supposed to do no matter what.”

“What is going on here?”

The introduction of a new voice into the mix further destabilised the already precarious stalemate in the room, and as one all three directed their attention towards its source.

Standing in the doorway staring at them with an expression of pure and genuine shock was one Samantha Arias.

“Ah, Samantha.” Lord smiled as if they had been having a pleasant conversation before her arrival and he did not in fact have a gun digging into the underside of his jaw. “What brings you by so late?”

“I was... You left...” Samantha made a half-hearted attempt to raise the file hanging limply in her right hand as her eyes, unfocused with disbelief, slid from him to Kara then Alex and finally the screens.

Kara could only watch on, powerless and frozen in place, as Samantha's shock briefly turned into denial before the full reality of what she was looking at sank in. _It's over_, she thought to herself. _My secret... My life... It's all over._

Mon-El was still anxiously trying to reach her, his worry from earlier having transformed into panic without her noticing. It made her want nothing more than to go home this very second and sleep so that she could cry into his chest until her throat was raw.

But she couldn't. Not yet, at least.

“Alex.” Somehow, she managed to find the strength to speak although her voice still came out as more of a hoarse whisper. “Let's go.”

“_What?_” Alex whipped her head away from a still unmoving Samantha to stare at Kara. “You can't be serious. _He_-” she jerked her head in Lord's direction, “-is bad enough but now there's one more person-”

“Who happens to be an innocent civilian,” Kara interrupted as a small part of her felt grateful that Lord was, despite his obnoxious smirk, keeping his mouth shut. “And even if you could somehow convince me that Lord deserves to be imprisoned indefinitely just because he knows my identity, there's no way you could ever convince me to stand by and let you do that to someone who found out by accident. So please. I just... I just want to go home. And I can't do that until I'm sure you're not going to do anything except go home too.”

Alex was so tense she was actually shaking, and for a heartbeat it looked like she might actually pull the trigger... but then she squeezed her eyes shut and took her finger off it. “_...Goddamnit, Kara._”

There was no reason to pretend as if her secret was no longer a secret to the other two people in the room so Kara saw no need to react to her name being said out loud. “Come on.” Disentangling Alex's death grip on Lord's shirt and gently tugging her adoptive sister away, she stopped after taking a few steps and turned back to face a now unreadable Lord. “I don't know what you plan to do next and I'm well aware that you have no reason to listen but please... Please leave my family and friends out of it.”

“You're right,” he replied neutrally. “By all accounts, there's no reason for me to listen to anything you say.”

She should have expected nothing else, but it still made her despair just a little more. Only the need to stop Alex's attempt to break free and rip Lord to shreds with nothing but her bare hands kept Kara from reacting outwardly herself. Without uttering another word or even casting a glance in the direction of a still silent Samantha, she swept Alex out of Lord's house and left with her adoptive sister in tow.

* * *

Samantha felt numb.

It was as if the events of the last few minutes – had it really only been a few minutes? – were a television show she was only mindlessly watching because there was nothing else on. How could this be real? How could she be expected to believe this even though she had seen the evidence with her own eyes? Was it not completely understandable if she thought that this was some kind of fever dream brought about by eating something that didn't agree with her for dinner?

But no matter how much she wanted it to be so, that was not the case at all.

She had in fact arrived at her boss' house to find said boss in a tense stand-off with Agent Danvers while Supergirl tried to intervene... and the information displayed on the screens around them filled in the blanks.

Supergirl's real identity was Cat Grant's overworked personal assistant Kara Danvers... and Agent Danvers of the FBI was her sister. Except she apparently did _not_ work for the FBI but rather some other government organisation which she hadn't known even existed a minute ago.

It was a lot to take in at once. Too much, even.

As such, she could only look on like some detached spectator as Supergirl – should she think of her as just Kara now? – convinced her sister – Supergirl had a _sister_ – to leave.

Some noise her brain associated with glass dragged her back to reality and when she blinked, Maxwell was the only other person in the room. The sound, she realised, was from him clearing up pieces of broken glass on the carpeted floor.

As he continued the utterly mundane task as if absolutely nothing exceptional had just happened, clarity set in all of a sudden and her emotions disentangled themselves.

To her own surprise, anger was the one that emerged the strongest out of all of them.

“What the hell is all this?” she snapped, the file in her hand crumpling a little as she tightened her grip on it involuntarily.

His focus remained on the bits of glass remaining on the floor. “The results of a fruitful fact-finding mission, Sam. That's all.”

“You said you were giving that up.”

“Did I? I must have forgotten.”

“_Damnit, Max!_” She all but threw the file down on the floor before gesturing towards the screens that were still displaying the pictures of Kara, Supergirl, Alex and several other people she didn't recognise. Except maybe that blonde in some of the photos; she seemed somewhat familiar. “Give me one – _ONE!_ – good reason why this was necessary! What was the purpose for all this?! And don't tell me it was just because you were curious! 'Curious' doesn't excuse dissecting her life like she's some... some... _lab rat you're experimenting on in the name of science_!” Then she realised where she'd seen the blonde before and more pieces fell into place. “Oh my god... You knew. You knew about the attack. And you... you intentionally endangered the life of one of our employees along with everyone else on the train, didn't you?”

He dropped the last piece of glass into the bin and stood up. “No one will ever be able to prove anything.”

“_That is not the point!_” If Ruby were here... God, she didn't want to think of how Ruby would react to this – how Ruby would look at her if she even so much as suspected her mother had had a hand in all this. Disappointment. That was it. That was what she was feeling under all the anger – what was fuelling her fury, even. “This is something _they_ would do. You realise that, right?”

Her accusation landed just as she knew it would; his back straightened and he turned his head to glare at her with a fury she only saw when this particular subject came up. “I'm _nothing_ like them.”

“You say that and yet look around us,” she snapped. “Tell me, Max; what exactly was the plan after this? Because based on what I can see, it can't be anything good and the _second_ you confirm that – don't try to lie, I'll know – is the second I quit.”

Surprise crossed his features at her declaration. “You'd really do that?”

“Yes.” She stuck her chin out in defiance. “And that will just be the start of it.”

“Hm.” His expression smoothed out but instead of replying immediately, he fetched another glass and began pouring himself another drink. “Since you insist, the original plan was to expose her identity along with the existence of the DEO.”

The anger Samantha had pushed aside so she could try and give him the benefit of the doubt flared to life again. “_Max-_”

“But.” He paused to take a sip, a touch of pensiveness in his eyes as he cast his gaze in the direction of the still open glass doors. “I'll admit I was... operating with inaccurate information when I created that plan.”

“...And what is that supposed to mean?” she asked with an edge in her tone when he failed to be more forthcoming.

A single tap caused the invasive slide show to finally vanish, leaving the small lamp on his desk and several weak beams of moonlight from outside as the only source of illumination. “It means I need a new plan.” The pensiveness was gone, and she recognised that look in his eyes as the one that he always had when he was about to start a new project. “And if you're open to the idea, I'd like your input on it.”

* * *

Kara woke up feeling almost as miserable as she had felt when she had gone to sleep.

Alex had been worryingly silent as she had stalked back to her car but by the time Kara went to check on her at her apartment, she had worked herself up into a frenzy. The rant had been as heated as it had been seemingly endless and no one had been spared; Lord had gotten the brunt of it, unsurprisingly, but Alex had taken shots at everyone else she could think of. Not even Kara had been spared, her cardinal sin being having stopped her adoptive sister from 'solving' her latest predicament.

Guilt and helplessness had rendered Kara mute, and she had just stood like a statue and let Alex keep going until she had exhausted herself no matter how much it had hurt.

What had added salt to the wound was having to watch Alex knock back no less than two beers throughout the rant and not finding the courage to say anything about the drinking.

Her will had somehow held even as she had left Alex cracking open a third, but by the time she had reached home she had had only enough strength left to change into her pyjamas before she had curled up in bed with St'rki.

Seeing Mon-El and telling him what had transpired had only helped so much; all he had been able to offer her were his warm embrace and empty platitudes. Both of them had been all too painfully aware that there was nothing else either he or even she could do; the truth was out now, and in the hands of the worst possible person second only to a Luthor. Her only course of action was to see what Lord would do next... and there was no way it could be anything good.

But there was something else she could – or rather had to – do.

“Not that I'd ever turn down a chance to hang out but you _do_ remember that you already checked up on me last night, right?” Eve asked with a raised eyebrow and a faint smile. “And yes, before you ask – again, I might add – my parents are still very much fine and have mostly gotten over it already.”

“I know, but...” Kara squeezed her eyes shut and tried to keep her voice from wavering. “There's something else about what happened that... that you need to know.”

In halting bursts and as low a voice as she could afford to avoid being overheard even though the caf_é_ was mostly deserted, she recounted everything from start to end – how her suspicions had led her to Lord's home, his reveal that he knew her secret, Alex's arrival and threat, the unexpected other guest that was Samantha... everything.

Throughout it all, Eve remained completely silent – no questions, no reactions, not even a single sound, faint or otherwise.

While it allowed Kara to relate her story uninterrupted, it became worrying when it continued long after she had finished and a tense atmosphere blanketed them. It was as if they were in their own little world – a bubble where the pain that had just been poured out like blood from an open wound was untouched by the morning tranquillity all around them.

As the silence stretched on, the despair already consuming her from within only grew until she began to believe that an outcome she had feared for so long was finally going to materialise – what could or should have happened all those years ago in the forested outskirts of Midvale one dark terrible night.

“I...” She clenched her hands into fists on the table to stop them from shaking. “I understand if you don't want to be my friend much less ever see me again after this-”

“Hold on.” Eve's voice ended Kara's long apology speech before it had even really begun, and she looked up to find her best friend staring at her with a confused frown. “_That's_ why you're so worked up right now? And is that why you asked me to have breakfast with you in the first place?”

Stunned speechless, Kara could only gape at Eve for several seconds. “W-What... Y-You mean... That's not how you feel?”

The frown on Eve's face deepened although this time it was one of frustration, and it was clear from the way she was breathing in and out that she was refraining from saying something particularly scathing. “Kara,” she started very slowly, “do you remember the night you saved my life? When you thought that I was going to stop being your friend just because you'd kept your identity a secret from me? Well, to paraphrase my response from back then, _I. Don't Care._ You're stuck with me and that's a fact.”

“But this and that are two different things!” Kara protested, more than a little bewildered at Eve's apparent nonchalance. “You remaining my friend even after knowing my true identity is one thing; getting actively targeted because I decided to take it to the next level by embracing the superhero life is another. And _your parents_ got unwittingly involved this time. Doesn't that factor in somehow?”

“No, it really doesn't.” Eve let out a heavy sigh. “Kara, have you ever really thought about what exactly you did when you made the choice you did that night?”

It felt to Kara like she was being forced to take a test she hadn't studied for. “...I...”

Eve rolled her eyes, but it was a gesture of fond exasperation if her smile was anything to go by. “Of course you didn't. Kara...” She reached across the table to clasp Kara's hands. “You saved my life. Every day, every hour, every second that I'm still breathing is thanks to you. I've gotten years of experiences – graduating, going to college, being your roommate, having my first real boyfriend – that I would never have been able to experience and however many more down the road there are all because of you. No matter what happens from here on out, nothing will ever change that.”

“Your parents-”

Before Kara could go any further with her rebuttal, however, Eve cut her off with a shake of her head. “That's the other part you don't realise, idiot. I never really told you what things were really like for my family in the days before Dad and I moved to Midvale. Dad saw it as his responsibility to keep me safe and it was obvious to me how seriously he took it even if he tried his hardest not to show it because he didn't want me to worry. If Ross had managed to kill me... Mom might have been able to do it but Dad... Dad would never have been able to forgive himself. It would've broken him, and I don't think my parents' marriage would've survived that. So you see, you saved more than just my life that day, and for that I will be forever grateful. Besides, I wouldn't give up being your best friend for anything in the world.”

“_You're worth it, Kara. You're worth all of it.”_

Eve's declaration along with the memory of Mon-El's words caused Kara's vision to blur with tears, and she ducked her head in a weak attempt to maintain her composure. She didn't deserve it, and yet the people she loved seemed to think having her in their lives was something to be treasured despite its downsides. “Thank you,” she mumbled once she was somewhat sure she wasn't going to start crying outright in public.

Thankfully, Eve chose not to draw attention to it. “You're welcome,” was all she said. “But really, if anything I should be thanking you for exposing my boss as a total jerkass who's almost as bad as Lex Luthor. I've half a mind to go to work after this just to tender my resignation.”

“I would appreciate it if you didn't do that, Ms Teschmacher.”

Both of them nearly jumped out of their seats at the unfamiliar voice adding itself their conversation, and as one they turned to its source.

“I'm sorry,” Samantha continued, her tone and body language conveying only sincere contriteness, “I hope I'm not interrupting anything.”

In a heartbeat, Eve had gotten to her feet and would have likely launched herself at Samantha if Kara hadn't all but thrown herself across the table to hold her back. “You have some nerve showing your face to either of us,” Eve snarled, her features twisted into an expression of uncharacteristic fury.

Impressively, Samantha maintained her composure and simply held her hands up in surrender, a leather business bag dangling from one lightly clenched fist. “I assume this means Ms Danvers has... updated you on the events of last night and while I'm aware that I'm in no position to make any demands, I'd like you to hear me out before you make any decisions for the immediate future.”

“Eve, please.” Kara squeezed her best friend's arm lightly. “I told you, she wasn't involved. Let's... Let's just let her say her piece.”

“...Fine,” Eve growled even as she continued to glare intensely at Samantha. “But if I don't like what comes out of her mouth, you're not going to be able to stop me next time.”

Samantha relaxed imperceptibly and slowly lowered her hands. “Thank you. However, considering the sensitive nature of what I'm here to discuss, may I suggest that we find somewhere more private before we proceed?”

“If you think we're getting into a car with you and going who knows where...” Eve started menacingly with clenched fists.

Just like that, Samantha's hands went back up. “I assure you that was not what I meant. I'm very aware that I'm on thin ice as is.”

“We could move to one of the corner tables away from the windows,” Kara quickly suggested, eager to avoid a full-blown confrontation. As it was, the lone other customer and the nice girl manning the counter had already started giving them curious looks.

“...Fine.” Despite her clearly reluctant acquiescence, Eve didn't follow so much as appear to march Samantha over to the table Kara had indicated as if she was escorting Arkham Asylum's newest resident.

It was only when they had sat down that Kara realised there was something she should have noticed from the start. “Wait, how did you even know to find us here?” she asked with a hint of alarm in her voice.

Samantha had the good grace to look contrite. “I may have taken advantage of some... research.”

Translation: She'd used Lord's surveillance of them to pinpoint where they might be.

A low growl escaped Eve, suggesting she had figured out the same thing, and Kara felt compelled to rest a hand on her arm to stop her from doing anything rash. “Putting that aside, can you please finally tell us why you're here?”

If she was offended by the less than subtle 'request' to get down to business, Samantha didn't show it. “I understand what happened last night might have created some... uncertainty... in your life and you're probably worried – understandably so – about what Mr Lord plans to do with the information currently in his possession.”

Eve snorted derisively. “Understatement of the year. If he plans to hurt Kara in any way-”

“That is exactly why I'm here.” Samantha smoothly reached into her bag and pulled out a relatively thick sheaf of papers that she placed on the table and slid over. “This is for you, Ms Teschmacher, although Ms Danvers will probably want to look through it as well.”

Beyond curious, Eve and Kara flipped open the document and were immediately greeted with a mystifyingly large amount of legal jargon. “What is this?” Kara asked as she alternated between staring at the document and Samantha.

“In short, financial reassurance that your secret is safe. Lord Technologies stock options and access to an off-the-books company account, among other things,” Samantha explained with the ease of someone clearly accustomed to making all kinds of deals every day without batting an eye while Eve and Kara gawked at her. “The details are all clearly listed in there and there are no- Well, I suppose there is one string attached and that is you'll need to remain a Lord Technologies employee but it's mostly for convenience sake.”

Eve was the first to regain her voice. “So let me get this straight: You're paying _me_ to make sure _you_ don't spill Kara's secret?”

“I... suppose you could describe it that way if you like,” Samantha acknowledged somewhat awkwardly.

“...Why?” Kara finally managed to ask through the white noise filling her head. “Why would he do this? Or is this all your doing?”

“I had a hand in shaping it but it was Mr Lord's idea for the most part.” Samantha hesitated before continuing. “I would like to apologise on his behalf for... everything, really.”

“But he's not sorry, is he?” Eve accused with narrowed eyes.

For the first time since she had arrived, Samantha's relative calm fractured enough for some emotion Kara couldn't place to flash across her face. “...I won't make excuses for him but I hope that some kind of understanding can be achieved someday.”

“Don't hold your breath.” Before Kara could chide Eve for her continued rudeness – not that she wasn't on edge herself, but she didn't think Samantha deserved to bear the brunt of it – Eve straightened in her seat and closed the document. “I want more time for us to look this over.”

“Take all the time you need; I'll be waiting for your response.” Satisfied at having achieved her goal for the most part, Samantha stood to leave but stopped and turned back around after a few steps. “For what it's worth, I'm sorry I didn't figure out what he was doing sooner; maybe I might have been able to stop him. And... please pass on my apology to your sister.”

“...Do you think we can trust her?” Eve asked when they were finally alone again. “Or the both of them, to be more accurate.”

Kara watched as Samantha slipped into her car and drove off. “We have to.”

Neither of them wanted to acknowledge out loud that it seemed to be their only option.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so first of all I feel like I should apologise for the low amount of Karamel in this chapter and will make it up with you guys both in the next chapter and possibly a prompt fic or two (I'm hoping to get at least one out in the next few days). Secondly, I suppose I should apologise for the angst...? B-But it was important for the advancement of the story so... yeah... I'll make up for it later...? Anyway, the next chapter should be easier on the angst... and easier to write... so hopefully it won't take as long to write... Hopefully...
> 
> Season 1 Compliment for the Chapter:  
Maxwell Lord is a more compelling character than all the Luthors on the show combined (sorry Lillian, but you're pretty much Generic Evil Rich Lady and your appeal rests almost entirely on you being played by Brenda Strong, not the writing) and Lena could only dream of being half as interesting as him.
> 
> Season 1 Rant of the Chapter:  
The Bizarro Supergirl thing was stupid, weird and a whole host of other things both in-universe and as a writing decision and everyone who was involved in making it happen deserves to be stripped naked, hogtied and dumped in a giant vat of itching powder for it.


	12. Villains

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Enemies come in many forms... but some enemies might not be enemies after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Once again, I'm really sorry about the long wait; it was a long complicated chapter and I fell sick (don't worry, it's nothing serious and I'm better now) but I finished it in the end and here we are. As always, please take care of yourself and your loved ones and I hope you'll all be safe and healthy. Aside from that, I think I kept a promise I made at the end of the last chapter and I hope you like it!

No matter how thoroughly Kara and Eve scrutinised the document, neither of them could find even a hint of duplicity in Lord's offer. Everything was as Samantha said it would be, and there was even an untraceable method for Kara to access the company account without Eve's help. Under different circumstances, Kara thought she might have been impressed at how all this had been put together in the span of one night but she was understandably disinclined to even think anything positive about Lord at the moment.

Of course, even if they had found something to be suspicious about, the fact of the matter was that agreeing to it was the only way forward.

There were no other entities good or bad aside from Rao in her religion but in her current situation, Kara felt she was literally, as the human saying went, making a deal with the devil.

And so it was with a great deal of trepidation that she told Eve she was giving her consent to go ahead and tell Lord she accepted this unorthodox arrangement he had proposed.

The black look on Eve's face made her stance on the matter clear but like Kara, she was all too aware of the reality of the situation and agreed to do as Kara asked.

(Alex had already expressed her feelings that night and Kara had been far from keen to repeat enduring that tirade so she had kept the details brief when she updated her adoptive sister. Unsurprisingly, Winn had taken this reveal about his idol the hardest out of all of them, and Kara had actually felt a little guilty as she watched her friend despondently put away all the Lord Technologies memorabilia littering his workstation.)

Strangely enough, Eve's mood seemed to have improved overnight when they met up for lunch the day after she had delivered Kara's answer... and the knuckles on her right hand were sporting some spectacular bruises.

“Eve!” Kara momentarily forgot all her troubles as she grasped Eve's injured hand and gave it a less than subtle scan with her X-ray vision. “What happened to your hand?! Did someone try to hurt you?!”

“Nothing you need to worry about, Kara,” Eve insisted as she pried the injured hand free from Kara's grip with a slight wince. “It'll heal in a few days or so. And no, I wasn't in any kind of danger, okay? So stop making such a big fuss please.”

“Then how did you get those bruises?” Kara pressed, barely resisting the urge to literally scan her best friend from head to toe for any other injuries Eve might be hiding.

“Oh, this?” Eve held the bruised hand up in a dismissive manner. “I told Samantha I had special demands to add on to the deal and that was that I'd get to give our jackass of a boss a piece of my mind. Would you believe she just immediately gave me a full hour with him in his private office, no questions asked? And she didn't even blink when I socked him in the jaw! Instead, she just went to fetch a first aid kit and told me afterwards that the company would cover my medical bill if I saw a doctor about my knuckles.”

Stunned at both Eve's story and her nonchalance, Kara could only open and close her mouth soundlessly as she tried to wrap her head around everything she had just heard. “_You did WHAT?!_” she practically hollered when she regained her ability to speak, too flabbergasted to think about keeping her voice down or notice the stares she got due to her outburst.

Instead of being chastised, Eve just looked annoyed. “Considering he didn't just put my life at risk but also the lives of my parents and everyone else on that train for that matter to expose your identity, he deserved it, Kara. In fact, he even said – and I quote – 'I suppose I deserved that.' Besides, it's pretty much my duty as your best friend to punch jackasses like him on your behalf especially since I know you'd never do anything like that yourself. It had to be done.”

“No, it didn't.” Kara took her glasses off and pinched the bridge of her nose, a complicated mix of frustration and affection creating the beginnings of a headache. “Eve... I'll admit I'd like nothing more than for Lord to get what he deserves but we can't just... _do that kind of thing_.”

“You mean _you_ can't – or rather _won't_ – even though you'd be perfectly justified in doing it.” The frown creasing Eve's brow deepened. “Honestly, Kara... Sometimes you're just too... well, _good_... for your own good.”

* * *

“Sometimes I really think you're too... _good_ for your own good, Kara.”

Kara threw her hands up in the air in frustration. “That's pretty much _exactly_ what Eve said!”

Wearing a frown that also mirrored the one Eve had been wearing earlier in the day, Mon-El crossed his arms over his chest and stood his ground. “Then I guess Eve and I are in agreement here. In fact, Lord should consider himself lucky I'm not on Earth yet because I'd have _definitely_ punched him myself too. Or worse.”

“Violence is not the answer to everything,” she tried to argue even though she already knew it would be a lost cause. Out of everyone in her life, he was easily the one most protective of her and his inability to actually be there for her physically no doubt exacerbated those feelings. “You know I'm not comfortable with the situation either but it is what it is and Lord seems to be keeping his word so there's no need to potentially destabilise the situation.”

He grunted and turned to stare off into the distance, his dissatisfaction more than obvious, and said nothing else.

All too aware that there was no point in trying to push the matter any further, she decided to just make sure he didn't hunt down Lord – and quite possibly Henshaw as well, while they were on the subject of humans who had hurt her in any way – the moment he finally reached Earth and changed the topic. “Anyway, I thought I'd let you know that the program I created to track the Coluan is only having a marginal amount of success. It's picking up traces of them here and there all over the place but nothing clear enough to indicate where they're going or coming from. Whatever it is they're trying to do, I can't figure it out.”

“It makes sense.” Some of the tension from earlier left his frame as he turned back to face her, his expression now one of deep thought. “Earth technology is nowhere near advanced enough to stand up against a Coluan's technopathic abilities and if they're not actively tampering with anything like they did with your pod and Red Tornado, I'm not surprised there's barely enough evidence of their presence for your program to detect. You'll just have to be patient. Who knows, maybe the overexposure to human stupidity on the... what did you call it, the Internet?... will drive them so insane they'll do whatever you want if you'll just help them get off Earth.”

The mental image of the Coluan in agony due to being forced to endure an endless onslaught of cat memes and the mind-numbing inanity that permeated social media caused Kara to let out an involuntary snort of laughter. “Wouldn't that be nice. But since we both know that's highly improbable, after what's happened recently, I'll settle for things being relatively uneventful until I've finally captured the Coluan.”

* * *

Naturally, the universe did not see fit to grant her wish and instead gave her the exact opposite in a truly unwelcome fashion.

* * *

Winn had barely finished relaying his shocking message before Kara was in her supersuit and out the window, her racing heartbeat thundering in her ears as she flew across the city. It was a place that had become incredibly dear to her over the years and the mere idea of it being under threat in any way filled her with unimaginable amounts of terror.

The sight that greeted her when she reached her destination did nothing to quell that fear.

“Come peacefully,” Henshaw commanded authoritatively while the masked DEO agents on his left and right kept their guns trained on the Hozz'ni in front of them, “and you will not be hurt.”

“We will do no such thing,” Sui replied, her calm tone and posture a sharp contrast to the bared fangs and claws of her people as they snarled and growled threateningly at the intruding humans in their native tongue. At her side, Tae conveyed the same level of composure even though she, like most of the other Hozz'ni, could not understand what was being said. “You arrive at our home with weapons drawn and make accusations while showing no inclination of listening to anything we might have to say. What guarantee do we have that you do not already wish us harm?”

“Henshaw, please,” Kara pleaded desperately as she stood between him and Sui, all too aware that it was an empty gesture at best. With this much firepower, it wouldn't matter how fast she was or how strong and resilient the Hozz'ni were; if he ordered the agents present to fire, there would be casualties... and there was no telling how many DEO agents would die when the Hozz'ni retaliated in defence. “This has to be a misunderstanding of some kind. They're not-”

“A human is dead,” he cut her off flatly. “Based on the readily available evidence we have been presented with from the wounds on the body to the fact that witnesses will testify that the deceased was frequently seen in this area, they're the most obvious culprits. As a fellow alien, I'm not surprised you'd take their side but know that if you persist, you'll share their fate. Or worse.”

The implicit threat turned the blood in her veins into ice but she shoved the paralysing fear back down into the abyss from which it had arisen. She would not abandon Tae, Sui and all the other Hozz'ni in their hour of need, and certainly not for the sake of selfishly protecting her own life. “They didn't do it. I don't care how it looks; I know they're innocent. And I can prove it. Just... Just give me time. That's all I need.”

“You're in no position to be making such demands,” he responded, the characteristic lack of any kind of emotion in his eyes and voice making the coldness of his words all the more apparent... but what he said next took her completely by surprise. “However, I will take your performance as of late in assisting the DEO with its missions into consideration.”

She could scarcely believe her ears. Could he just be giving her false hope in order to make her suffer without inflicting a single blow? Or was he actually being sincere? “Y-You mean...”

“Twenty-four hours.” He made some kind of gesture with his hand and the DEO agents present lowered their guns but remained noticeably alert. “Starting now. Unless you can present clear evidence that someone else is responsible, they will all be taken into custody. By force if necessary.”

One day? That was it? And it wouldn't be enough to prove that the Hozz'ni were not the perpetrators; she had to essentially find the real killer along with undeniable proof of their guilt if she wanted her friends to stay out of the DEO's clutches. The unfairness of it all made her instinctively want to challenge his insane conditions but she bit her tongue. Arguing would more than likely cause him to rescind his offer and she couldn't take that risk. “You'll order your men to leave in the meantime?” she asked instead.

“And give them the chance to run away?” he scoffed. “A team will be left behind to stand guard and make sure they don't go anywhere while you're off on your wild goose chase.” He glanced down at his watch. “Twenty-three hours and fifty-eight minutes left. Or would you like to quit now?”

This time, it was an angry curse that threatened to slip out of her, and she had to clench her fists so tightly to stop herself that her nails left crescent-shaped indents on her palms. “Never.”

He let out a dismissive sound before turning around to bark orders at his men, leaving her standing there shaking with suppressed anger.

“What do you think you're doing?”

The sound of Alex's voice snapped Kara out of her stewing, and she turned to find her adoptive sister staring incredulously at her with her tactical mask dangling loosely from her gloved hand. “The right thing. Last I checked, that's what wearing this supersuit means.”

Alex let out a noise of frustration and pressed a hand to her forehead like she was trying to suppress a headache. “You're sticking your neck out – with _Henshaw_ no less! – for a bunch of aliens you've never met before today. Don't you think you're being a little too reckless here?”

Kara had felt pinpricks of guilt before at her decision to keep the alien parts of her life a secret from Alex, but this was the first time she found herself regretting it for a practical reason. Even so, this seemed like an ill-advised moment to reveal her true connection to the Hozz'ni... and the chances of anything related to Mon-El slipping out in the process convinced her that this secret should be kept just a little longer. “They may not be American citizens but don't you think 'innocent until proven guilty' should apply to them too?” she countered patiently. “They said they didn't do it and I believe them.”

“K- Supergirl, the guy was _mauled_ to death by something very strong with sharp claws and he apparently came around here a lot for whatever reason. I mean...” Alex gestured in the direction of the Hozz'ni whose attentions were divided between listening to Tae and Sui presumably urging them to stay calm and throwing openly hostile glances at the DEO agents standing just beyond their encampment. “_Look at them._ _Look at the evidence._ You couldn't find more perfect suspects anywhere on this planet.”

Hurt unexpectedly bloomed in Kara's chest and there was the bitter taste of some emotion she was reluctant to name burning at the back of her tongue. Was she overreacting or had Alex just determined the Hozz'ni were guilty simply because they fit an incredibly vague description that could approximately be applied to no less than half of National City's alien population? And to call the dead guy's frequent visits to the area 'circumstantial evidence' was beyond laughable. “So you're saying that if someone got turned into pulp near my apartment, _I'd_ automatically be considered a suspect in their murder?” she accused heatedly before she could think twice.

Alex's eyes widened in alarm. “You know I didn't-”

Kara cut her adoptive sister off with an angry shake of her head. “I don't have time for this.” Turning on her heels, she ignored Alex's half-hearted attempt to call her back and headed straight for Tae and Sui. By then, the rest of the Hozz'ni had dispersed although some had taken up sentry positions close to where the DEO agents were standing guard instead of resuming their daily activities. “I'm sorry,” she apologised in Daxamite with her head bowed the moment she reached them. “I should've arrived sooner. If I had-”

“Be at ease, Kara Zor-El,” Tae said with an almost careless wave of her hand. “You could not have known that such an unfortunate situation would befall us but you are here now and Sui has already informed me of the arrangement you have brokered to prove our innocence. We are in your debt.”

It was humbling to hear how much faith they had in her and yet Kara could not shake her guilt over being unable to do more. “After everything you've done for me since we met, I think it's more appropriate to say that I'm repaying the debt I owe you. Besides, I haven't exactly done anything yet.”

Despite the grimness of the situation, Sui still managed to smile. “The worth of any friendship should not be measured in the number of deeds performed but rather the richness it has brought to one's life. Even if we were to put that aside, you should remember that you have helped us in many ways over the years and that should be more than adequate to mark you as a true friend. We have faith in you.”

That made one – or rather two out of three – of them, but the sentiment warmed Kara's heart a little all the same. “I'll do my best prove your faith in me isn't misplaced. First things first: Did they say anything about the crime your people have been accused of committing?”

“Nothing that you do not already know, I am afraid,” Sui replied with a troubled frown. “I regret being unable to provide more assistance even though you are undertaking this endeavour on our behalf.”

“It's okay,” Kara said reassuringly with a weak smile as she reached out a comforting hand to pat Sui's arm before turning so that she could address Tae as well. “I know my limits, but I swear in Rao's name I won't rest until find the real culprit behind this.”

Both Hozz'ni bowed their heads in gratitude. “Then may the spirits be with you, Kara Zor-El, both for your sake and for ours.”

Kara returned the bow and bade them goodbye before both sides parted ways, although privately she was sure that she was the one leaving with the more troubled mind. Based on Henshaw's behaviour, she wasn't sure if she could count on the DEO to share any information they had so she was going to have to find some other source-

Someone cleared their throat behind her, and when Kara whirled around Alex was holding out a tablet while wearing a slightly shame-faced expression. “Here.”

The unspoken apology and what it represented was hard to miss, and Kara's heart swelled with love and gratitude as she accepted the olive branch. “Thanks, Alex.”

“This is all I can do,” Alex stated with genuine regret. “I've been ordered back to headquarters to work on something else and no DEO resources are going to be allocated to investigating this any further.”

“It's more than I could've hoped for.” Kara cocked her head to the side and furrowed her brow as a thought occurred to her. “Will you get into trouble for this?”

Alex shrugged. “If I do, it'll be worth it. Like you said, it's the right thing to do.” She nodded in the direction of the tent that Tae and Sui called home. “You seemed to be getting along pretty well with them.”

There it was again – another chance, albeit still one that was less than ideal timing-wise, to tell Alex the truth – but once again Kara elected to pass it up. “They're good people,” she said simply. “All they need right now is for someone to be in their corner and I'm going to be that someone.”

“Well, I can't think of anyone better for the job,” Alex told her encouragingly. “And I know what I said earlier but screw it; if there's any way I can help, just call and I'll come running, okay?”

Kara flashed her adoptive sister another smile although it was a little strained. “I know. And thank you. But for now, I think I need a different kind of help.”

* * *

“Okay, so here's what we know.” Winn finished typing with a flourish and turned around in his seat to address his audience with the air of a scientist about to reveal the secrets of the universe. (St'rki ignored the noisy two-leg and continued his napping.) “Our victim is a homeless army veteran by the name of Anthony Drezner who ended up on the streets due to painkiller addiction problems a few months after his last tour overseas – incidentally the one where he earned the injuries that led to his addiction and a Purple Heart. Despite all that, it seems he managed to stay out of trouble for the most part; I can't find any arrests on his record and he had a bed reserved for him at one of the local shelters which I'm pretty sure doesn't happen if you're the troublemaking type.”

“In other words, the worst possible victim of a supposed alien murder,” Eve muttered grimly as she tapped away at her phone. “Social media's blowing up with this news; someone in NCPD must have leaked the incident to the press and it's one of the top trending topics on every platform. Doesn't help that President Baker's team has released attack ads directed at Senator Marsdin with this incident as its base – crap like how her plan to officially recognise aliens living in America and give them basic rights in the eyes of the law will lead to crime waves and dead children and all that other scare tactic nonsense.”

Kara muttered a string of curses under her breath at that and fought the urge to pace the length of her apartment. Of course that xenophobic jerk would take full advantage of the situation in the worst possible way. If she was the type to believe in conspiracy theories, she would have suspected him of orchestrating the murder himself somehow. It didn't help that she was almost sure Lex Luthor was secretly funnelling money into the president's campaign and had been the brains behind the ads; after all, the two men shared the same views about aliens and Lex had everything to gain by keeping an 'alien sympathiser' out of the White House. “Any increase in cases of violence against aliens?” she forced herself to ask.

Both her friends present shook their heads. “Nothing that's being reported at least,” Winn supplied.

It didn't exactly mean much since most if not all aliens would never go to the NCPD or even a hospital no matter how serious their situation but Kara chose to take it as a good sign regardless. “Okay, but let's keep an eye on that just in case. Winn, I need you to try and retrace Drezner's last moments so we can figure out what really happened. Hack all the cameras you need. Eve, a second pair of eyes would make things easier so can you please help Winn? I'll ask James to reach out to his contacts and see if they might know anything. Speaking of which...” she trailed off as she noted the absence of the third person she had messaged, “where is he anyway?”

Winn and Eve glanced at each other before turning back to stare at her rather oddly. “He's in Ojai with Lucy, remember?” Eve tried to jog Kara's memory. “They got back together after that big scare of her having been at the airport about to fly back to Metropolis when the bomb was found there.”

“Oh god,” Kara groaned as she squeezed her eyes shut and smacked her forehead. “I totally forgot.”

“Well, it's understandable,” Winn tried to console her. “You have a lot to deal with right now after all, and thinking about James and Lucy enjoying a holiday – that she won in some lucky draw she doesn't even remember taking part in, no less – is probably the last thing on your mind. I mean, not that I'm envious and don't want to be here helping you or anything like that but some people just have all the luck.”

“Mm, yes.” For some reason, Eve looked strangely... serene? “What wonderful luck indeed.”

If not for the pressing issue at hand, Kara would have devoted some of her time and energy to figuring out the reason behind Eve's odd behaviour. (Not that she would have managed to figure it out since that would require her noticing something that had still never crossed her mind even for a microsecond.) “I'll just send him another message to apologise and tell him we've got this covered so he doesn't have to worry.”

“Please do.” Bizarrely, Eve's mood had done a one-eighty in a heartbeat and she was now practically glaring at Kara. “_Right now._”

Having developed a survival instinct based entirely on hearing that specific tone, Winn shrank into his seat and gestured animatedly at his computer. “I'll just... uh... get on that hacking thing.”

“Okay, okay.” Also aware that it was borderline suicidal to fight Eve when she was like this even when she had no idea why, Kara relented and picked up her phone from where she had left it on the kitchen island. “I'm-”

The device rang abruptly, startling everyone present, and she nearly crushed it into bits before she managed to stop herself and moved to her bedroom to answer the call. “Hello?”

“Hi.” James' familiar voice was warm and full of concern. “Sorry, I just saw your message. Is everything okay?”

“Yes. Well, no, but it's fine,” Kara quickly corrected herself. “Sorry, James, I'm the one who has to apologise. I totally forgot you were on holiday and shouldn't have bothered you.”

“No worries. I'm always here for you if you need me.”

“Thanks. I appreciate it.”

“Are you sure there's nothing I can do? I don't mind. You're my friend, after all.”

“Really, James, it's okay. Besides, are you sure you should be calling me while you're on a romantic holiday with your girlfriend?” she asked teasingly in an attempt to change the topic and lighten the mood. “Lucy might get jealous, you know.”

There was a brief pause. “She doesn't know I called. But I'm sure she'd understand if she did.”

“Oh.” Kara was saved the trouble of trying to figure out how to respond to that when Eve stepped into her line of sight and silently pointed in Winn's direction. “Sorry, I have to go. Have a wonderful time with Lucy, okay? Bye.”

“Hey, uh,” James hastily called out, causing her to stop just as she was about to end the call. “If you need me, just give me a call, got it? I'm here for you.”

“I know, but I hope I don't have to. Bye, James.” Ending the call at last, Kara gave Eve her full attention. “Did you guys find something?”

“Yes.” Eve studied her intently. “What was that about?”

“Oh, James called because he got my message but I told him not to interrupt his holiday because we had things under control.” Kara frowned. “He seemed pretty insistent that I reach out if I needed any help though.”

The stoniness of Eve's expression made granite look like marshmallow in comparison. “...Was he now.”

Intimidated by the chilliness of her best friend's voice, Kara decided that changing the topic would be the best course of action for everyone involved. “S-So, you were saying something about having found something?”

Eve's demeanour didn't shift even in the slightest but to Kara's quiet relief, she turned and headed back to the dining table where Winn had set up his improvised workstation. “There aren't enough security cameras for us to get the full picture of what happened but based on the footage we could find, our guy got picked up by a light green delivery van belonging to a flower shop called Happy Petals in Sheppard Avenue.”

“Now for the bad news,” Winn picked up where Eve had left off. “The delivery van was reported stolen a week ago and the shop's cameras are just for show so we don't have anything on the thief. None of the footage we have of the van gave us a clear image of the driver either but I'll keep looking to see if there's something I might have missed.”

“Thanks, Winn.” Mustering up a faint smile, Kara clasped his shoulder and gave it the tightest squeeze she could afford. “I don't know if I'd be able to do this without you.”

Winn flushed bright red and shrugged self-consciously. “I'm sure you would've managed.”

“You sell yourself short like always. Anyway, I'll go and check out the flower shop; hopefully I'll find something there we can use to get us back on the killer's trail.”

With that, Kara gave his shoulder another careful squeeze before leaving him to his task and turning to address Eve... only to find said best friend staring very frostily at her. “...Um, Eve?”

If Eve had been a Kryptonian, Kara was sure she would've gotten a deadly dose of heat vision that very second. “I'm going to let it go this time because we have more important things on our hands but I just want you to know that _I really want to kill you right now_.”

“Um. Right. I'll just... go now.” Backing away towards her apartment window with her hands raised, Kara made a hasty retreat before Eve could reconsider and go through with her murderous intentions.

* * *

Having left without asking Winn for the address of Happy Petals, Kara ended up wasting precious minutes as she scoured Sheppard Avenue from the air before she finally located the flower shop. Uncertainty as to how questioning the owners about their stolen van would go in light of the current tense human-alien relations, she opted to scan the alleyway where the vehicle had been parked for evidence instead.

She had barely spent a couple of minutes trying to see if watching crime shows had blessed her with magical detective skills when a gravelly voice snapped her back to reality.

“Well, well, well.” Startled, she turned around to find a tall black human in his forties studying her with great interest from where he was standing near the entrance of the alleyway. Everything about his appearance from his black leather jacket to his pressed trousers screamed 'detective', albeit one that was from a decade or two in the past. “If it isn't the Maiden of Might herself. What brings you to this quiet part of the city?”

The mention of one of her handful of nicknames made her want to roll her eyes but she maintained a cool composure instead. “I'm looking into a case about a stolen delivery van. According to the police report, it was last seen parked right here about a week ago.”

One of his eyebrows arched. “I know you do everything from put out fires to rescue pets from trees but since when does Supergirl solve petty crimes like a regular gumshoe?”

“I do when it's connected to something bigger.” Unsure what to make of the unexpected observer, she decided to be direct. “Who are you and what's your interest in this?”

He pulled out a business card from his jacket pocket and tossed it to her. “John Jones, private investigator. I was hired to look into something and the trail led me here.”

A private investigator. That explained the detective look. “You wouldn't happen to be investigating the murder of a man named Anthony Drezner, would you?”

“I don't see any reason for me to answer that question,” he replied evenly.

In other words, yes. Now the question was... who had hired him? A relative, perhaps? According to the records Winn had dug up, Drezner's parents had passed away years ago and the only close family member he had was his younger sister Jenna. “Your client doesn't believe an alien was behind this?”

The same eyebrow arched again. “I'm not confirming or denying anything but let's just say I'm getting paid to make sure there aren't any stones left unturned.”

At least that meant their goals aligned to some extent. In which case... “Is there a chance that we could work together then? We both want the same thing, after all.”

“You scratch my back and I scratch yours?” He let out a snort of laughter but it sounded more genuinely bemused than derisive. “Well, as long as I get the job done and get paid. Here.”

As with the card before it, Kara had to catch the flying piece of paper thrown her way. “What's this?” she asked in puzzlement as she unfolded it to find a relatively detailed sketch of a man's face.

“I interviewed a few people who happened to be in the area on the day the van was stolen. That-” he pointed at the sketch in her hand, “-is something I put together based on their descriptions of a suspicious-looking man they saw loitering around here in the days leading up to the theft and of course the day itself.”

A part of Kara admired Jones' drawing skills as she stared at the sketch. Could this be the face of the real murderer? At the very least, he was a suspect – a lead she could pursue when there seemed to be a dearth of them. Maybe Rao had decided to have mercy on her this time. “Would you mind if I take this with me? I have the resources to see if it's something worth pursuing.”

“On one condition.” He grinned, shark-like, as he gestured at his business card which was wedged between her right index and middle fingers. “You give me a call if you find anything. Use a payphone if you're not up for sharing numbers but I'd say you owe me that much.”

“You scratch my back and I scratch yours,” she repeated his words from earlier. Well, fair was fair. “All right, I'll let you know how it turns out.” She turned to leave, paused and looked back to give him a sincerely grateful smile. “I know you're just doing it because you're getting paid but thanks all the same.”

Then she flew back to her apartment without another glance backwards, and in the process missed the worried gaze that followed her as she disappeared into the darkening sky.

* * *

Unfortunately, reality reared its ugly head shortly after Kara presented the sketch to Winn.

“I'm not saying it's not a good sketch because it is but...” Winn scrunched up his face as he studied the piece of paper in his hands. “Even the best facial recognition technology we have right now needs an actual photo or digital image to work its magic. N-Not that I'm saying it's a dead end, of course!” he added hastily. “I'll find a way around it but it might take me a couple of hours.”

The sun was already setting and they were running out of time but Kara knew he was already doing his best and it wasn't his fault they were on such a tight schedule. “Thanks, Winn.”

“Why don't you go take a nap while we work on this?” Eve suggested. “Odds are you're going to be working through the night on this once we have something so you should get your rest while you can.”

There was sound logic behind Eve's words and yet Kara could pick up the underlying message as clearly as if her best friend had stated it outright: Considering there was no way to tell how long the rest of their investigation was going to take, this could be her only chance to see Mon-El for today. It was beneficial on two levels: His presence would definitely be a welcome balm to her fraying nerves and he might be able to provide some kind of insight drawn from his old life. Besides, Tae and Sui were his friends too and he deserved to know what was going on.

Seeing no way or reason to argue, she left things in her best friends' hands albeit with some reluctance and changed into something more comfortable before lying down on her bed with St'rki curled up against her.

Of course, Mon-El practically wrapped his arms around her before she could even open her eyes in the dream world. “Hey. I thought I felt something from you earlier but you seemed to cut off the connection or something before I could figure out what you were trying to communicate. Is everything okay?”

A soft sigh escaped her as she closed her eyes and let herself melt into his embrace, taking in everything from his scent and warmth to the blue-grey energy flowing into her head. “Not really,” she admitted, “but I want to believe things will be soon.”

He shifted just enough to press a kiss to her hair. “Want to talk to me about it? Let me see if I can help.”

“That's exactly why I'm here, actually.” She allowed herself to savour the comfort he was readily offering for a while more before she reluctantly disentangled herself and got down to business. “The Hozz'ni are being accused of murdering a human and I only have less than half a day left to prove their innocence before the DEO arrests them all.”

She hadn't even been halfway into her recounting of the day's events when his arms and face went slack with shock, and he continued staring blankly at her for a long moment before he found his voice again. “_What?!_”

“Mon-El.” Keeping her voice calm but firm, she clasped his hands and squeezed them even as she sent soothing thoughts his way through their connection. “I won't tell you not to worry because I know that's unreasonable and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried too. But I swear in Rao's name I won't let anything happen to them and I'm making progress in fulfilling that oath. Having said that, I could use all the help I can get and while I did want to see you just for the sake of seeing you, I also wanted to ask you if you might know something that could be helpful. So please... Trust me and calm down.”

For a brief moment he seemed as if he was going to resist her plea but then he closed his eyes and took several deep breaths. As the tension bled out of his frame, the blue-grey energy lost its edge, and by the time she found herself staring into those blue-grey orbs again he was as clear-headed and focused as could be. “Okay, I'm... I'm ready. Tell me everything and I'll see if there's anything I can contribute.”

“Thank you.” She mentally filtered out the less critical information before continuing. “The human who was murdered apparently had claw marks all over his body and he frequently visited the area near the place Tae, Sui and their people have set up their encampment. In other words, the evidence against them is circumstantial at best but since this is the DEO we're talking about, I have to prove unequivocally that someone else did it or it won't be enough. I have a drawing of someone who may have been involved on some level in the crime but Earth's technology can't really use it to locate or identify him.”

“Earth technology. Why am I not surprised?” Mon-El muttered under his breath but thankfully remained focused instead of launching into a rant. “So the only clue you have is this potential murderer's appearance? Is there really nothing else for you to go on?”

“Nothing.” Allowing herself the freedom to express the frustration she'd been trying to keep in check, Kara threw her hands up in the air and let out an angry noise. “There doesn't seem to be anyone who had a reason to want that human man dead and the way he died is just too vague. I mean, _claw marks_? At least half of National City's alien population could have done it but why would they? Not to mention the fact that any human could have just gotten themselves some claw-like weapons and done it themselves but again, what would be the motive? Meanwhile, that stupid president is using this situation as an excuse to push his anti-alien rhetoric and things are starting to get so bad they're accusing his challenger of secretly being an alien because _of course_ that's the only reason she'd support aliens having basic rights. Can you believe it's reaching the point where she's actually offering to show her birth certificate to prove she's human?”

“Okay, I think you're the one who needs to calm down now,” he said soothingly as he caught her flying fists and gently uncurled them, all the while sending calming thoughts her way. “Now, it looks like this human was murdered in a way that would immediately suggest an alien was the culprit, right?”

She frowned, unsure where he was going with this. “Yes?”

“Right.” A sudden tenseness came over him, but he started talking before she could ask about it. “A... Well, I suppose it was a very long time ago by this point... Anyway, there was an instance where Daxam intended to gain access to the natural resources of the planet Coorom but its ruler Menod was a shrewd individual who knew that they were the ones with the leverage and would not allow Coorom to be exploited. My father... I'm not entirely sure how he accomplished it but... he presented 'evidence' to Coorom's council of Menod's intentions to strike a secret deal with Daxam in order to secretly enrich themselves at the expense of Coorom's interests. The council believed my father and... Menod was executed for treason despite their many protests of their innocence. Their replacement, Sonat, showed their gratitude for my father's... 'help'... by creating a trade agreement between the planets that was incredibly favourable to Daxam.”

Mon-El rarely brought his parents up, and considering every time he had the stories had never failed to paint them as terrible people on some level or other, Kara found herself dismayed at her lack of surprise at this. But now was not the time to discuss the many ways they had had a negative impact on his entire life and she was sure he would agree with her on that. “Are you suggesting that President Baker had something to do with this? Because it benefits him politically?” she asked with a furrowed brow. As terrible as the president was, the idea that he had arranged for an innocent man to be assassinated to get himself re-elected seemed a little too much like an outlandish conspiracy theory to her.

To her surprise, he gave her a slight smile and shook his head. “No, don't think of it that way. You're too focused on my father's position. Think about who benefits directly from this situation. Think about the timing. Why now? And for this person's face to be identified so easily... What does that tell you about him?”

She scrunched up her face as his questions swirled in her head, her brain working overtime to come up with the answers. There was no shortage of humans who hated aliens enough to want to do something like this but someone had actually acted on it now. But who-

Then the answer came to her in a flash.

Without warning, she reached up to grab his face and pull him down for a very passionate kiss. “I love you.” She kissed him again. “We're going to continue this when I get back.”

A little stunned but nonetheless pleased at the unexpectedly heated expression of gratitude, he grinned at the empty space where she had been standing a heartbeat ago. “I look forward to it then.”

* * *

All things considered, Kara felt like she should have thought about it sooner without the need for Mon-El to nudge her in the right direction.

She had been keeping tabs on the trial of the members of The True Heirs who had been involved in the domestic terrorist attack weeks ago, fuming and cheering depending on the nature of each update. One particularly infuriating bit of news had been about the defence lawyers' declaration that they would use the fact that no one had died as a result of the bomb attack to argue for leniency.

“_We're_ the ones who made sure no one got hurt!” she had raged in some form or other to a sympathetic Winn, Eve, Alex and even James on separate occasions. “I can't believe they'd do something like this!”

“Well, they're entitled to a good defence,” James had told her diplomatically. “It doesn't feel right, I know, but that's how the justice system has to be so everyone guilty or innocent gets a fair shake.”

It had been impossible to argue with that so Kara had resigned herself to stewing quietly and fervently hoping that the prosecution was competent enough to make sure The True Heirs got the punishment they deserved. As it was, there were ridiculous sob stories going around about how every member had 'suffered' at the hands of aliens as if that was supposed to justify their actions. It was obviously meant to generate sympathy for them and subtly paint aliens in general as the real source of people's suffering.

Anthony Drezner had been murdered the day before the jury selection process for the trial was scheduled to begin.

It had admittedly been a long shot based on a hunch, but Kara had asked Winn to look up people connected to The True Heirs members who had staged the attack and compare them to the sketch. To their collective amazement, the fishing expedition had coughed up a name: Charley Gould, brother of Zaine Gould, the triggerman on the train she had personally taken down.

After that, everything had fallen rather neatly into place. Honouring her promise from earlier, Kara called Jones and informed him of her discovery. The private investigator had sounded incredibly pleased to hear back from her and assured her that he would handle the rest. “I need to prove to my client I did my job, after all,” he had said, and sure enough, every news channel was covering the arrest of Anthony Drezner's real killer and the discovery of clear-cut evidence proving his guilt not an hour later.

Considering the fraught way this entire debacle had started, its resolution had been rather anticlimactic... but that was not what mattered at the end of the day. What mattered was that Kara was able to visit Tae and Sui after that with a big smile on her face to tell them the good news.

“Did we not say that you would succeed in aiding us in our time of need, Kara Zor-El?” Tae chortled heartily, a teasing note in her rumbling voice as she held her cup up in an informal toast. “That we had more faith in you than you had in yourself... It is unacceptable!”

Kara flushed a little at the gentle ribbing as she accepted her own cup from a similarly bemused Sui. “I just didn't want to be too optimistic,” she feebly tried to defend herself. “But all the same, I'm glad everything worked out in the end.”

“And we have you to thank for that,” Sui pointed out with her own toast. “This is cause for celebration.”

The sip of saanth tea that had been travelling down Kara's throat got coughed back up. “Please,” she wheezed, secretly glad her hacking disguised her panic, “let's... let's hold off on that for now. Uh, you know, Mon-El helped a lot and... and it doesn't seem fair to celebrate without him.”

“Is that so?” Tae hummed thoughtfully while Siu leaned over to pat Kara's back with enough force to nearly knock her face-first into the ground. “Very well then. We will simply have to make the celebration of his arrival even greater than previously thought.”

Considering the stories Mon-El had told her about the parties Tae and her people had thrown on Daxam, Kara found herself a little terrified at what that might mean. “Y-Yes. That, um... That sounds... perfect.”

“Excellent!” Beyond pleased, Tae downed her cup's contents in one gulp and slammed it down before clapping her hands. “We shall begin planning tomorrow. As we have said before, you are welcome to invite any friends if you so wish.”

“If the spirits are kind, the weather will be ideal and there will be no trouble like what we experienced yesterday,” Sui commented in a rare show of seriousness. “I certainly do not wish for that alien to bring those armed humans to our home once more under any circumstances.”

The cup in Kara's hands stopped an inch from her mouth, and she lowered it very slowly so that she could gape at Sui. “...What did you say?”

“Oh?” Tae looked surprised, as did Sui. “You were not aware that the dark-skinned one was an alien?”

Kara's mind whirled. “Henshaw? You... You can't mean Henshaw, right?”

“Ah, yes, I recall you referring to him by that name during the negotiations.” Sui hummed and tapped her nose. “Yes, he is most certainly not from Earth. Like you, his appearance resembles that of a human but his scent gives him away. However, I admit I have never smelled his kind before.”

“I... I see...” A maelstrom of thoughts and questions occupied Kara's head despite her weak assurances to Tae and Sui that everything was fine, and she returned to her apartment in a daze. She had to talk to Mon-El about this. _Immediately._

* * *

The moment Mon-El looked up and caught her expression, his cheeky grin was replaced by an expression that was part curious and part concerned. “Something tells me we're not picking up where we left off last time.”

Kara was too stunned to even remember how her last visit had ended. “Henshaw's an alien,” she blurted out, still unable to fully process this new revelation.

Both his eyebrows disappeared into his hairline. “_What?_”

“He was leading the DEO team that was going to arrest the Hozz'ni,” she explained belatedly. “Tae and Sui said he doesn't smell like a human and-”

“-and there's no way to fool the nose of a Hozz'n,” he finished, his surprise from earlier slowly giving way to serious thoughtfulness. “Do they know what species he is?”

She shook her head, drawing on his surprising calm state of mind to focus herself. “No, they said he smelled unfamiliar.”

The furrow in his brow deepened as he crossed his arms, and a stretch of silence followed before he spoke up again. “What do you plan on doing with this information?”

“I was kind of hoping you'd give me an idea,” she answered somewhat helplessly. “I mean... an alien pretending to be a human while leading a human organisation specifically set up to deal with aliens? It's so insane it sounds like a conspiracy theory.”

He uncrossed his arms and levelled a hard stare at her. “I can think of a way you can use this to your advantage.”

Confused, it took her a few seconds to figure out what he meant... and when the answer came to her, she neither liked nor approved of it. “Mon-El, I'm not going to blackmail him over this.”

“Kara, _it's Henshaw_.” He was being uncharacteristically insistent, but considering he knew her history with the man – or alien, as it turned out – quite intimately, she supposed she should have expected this. “He doesn't deserve your compassion. Not after everything he's done since the beginning.”

“Yes, but he's not-” _-the same person I first met_, she wanted to finish when a borderline crazy thought crossed her mind and she voiced it before she had even started to really process it. “What if it's not really Henshaw?”

Her question unbalanced him so much that the storm brewing in his blue-grey eyes vanished and was replaced by utter confusion. “What?”

Kara was vaguely sure she sounded just a little crazy – grife, there was a voice at the back of her head _telling_ her how crazy she sounded – but her brain had latched on to the idea and wouldn't let go. “Think about it; the Henshaw who used Kryptonite on me to force Jeremiah to work for him would've used the plane incident as an excuse to turn me into an experimental subject. Instead, I got the chance to use my powers in the open-”

“Under his supervision,” Mon-El cut in, still clearly unconvinced.

“But the thing is he _allowed_ me to do it,” she countered. “And yes, I know he still acts like a real jerk every single time but what if that's it? What if it's really just an act?”

“What would be the point of it though?” he asked. “Why pretend to be Henshaw? Why keep up this deception for years? Grife, even if – and that's a big 'if' – this alien is impersonating Henshaw, you have no idea why they're doing it.”

She swallowed and prepared herself for a rather perfectly understandable outburst. “Well, there's only one way to find out, isn't there?”

“What are you-” he started, perplexed, before his eyes widened in realisation. “Kara, _no_. You can't be serious.”

“You're the one who suggested I confront him about this,” she tried to defuse the situation with a cheeky quip even though she knew it would be pointless.

“Yeah, in a 'I have leverage over you' way, not a 'I know your secret and I'd like to talk about it over food and a nice drink' way!” He buried his head in his hands and let out an aggravated noise, clearly too frustrated to continue.

“Okay, now you're just being ridiculous. And kind of mean,” she huffed. “I plan on taking precautions, you know. It's not like I'm going to just put myself in a position where he can-”

“-have you thrown into a DEO lab and dissected before even Alex figures out what happened to you?” he finished, raising his head to level a somewhat tired glare at her.

She winced at the mental image and his expression but stood firm. “I'll be careful. As careful as you want me to be, even. But this alien... Whatever their motivations might be, they deserve the benefit of the doubt and a chance to explain why they're pretending to be Henshaw before I do anything. So...”

As usual, he understood what she was asking without actually asking... and as usual, he caved albeit with no small amount of reservation. “...Fine.” He heaved a sigh and pulled her in for a tight hug in one swift move. “But when things go wrong in any way, I'm going to say 'I told you so'.”

Relief made her all but melt into his embrace as she wrapped her own arms around him. “That's an 'if'. And you won't.”

“No, I won't,” he sighed again, his voice full of resignation, and dropped a kiss on her head.

* * *

Despite all her mental preparation and strength of will, Kara still found herself nervous to the point of jumpiness as she strode down the still somewhat claustrophobic halls of the DEO's headquarters. Mon-El's reassurance trickling into her head helped with her nerves especially considering his feelings about her chosen course of action, but she still let out a startled squeak when Alex seemed to appear out of nowhere as she was making her way to find Henshaw.

“Geez, sorry.” Alex held her hands up in a faux attempt to show she meant no harm as she eyed Kara sceptically. “Someone's on edge today. I thought you'd gotten somewhat used to this place a while back. Or did something happen recently?”

_Oh, nothing much. I just found out yesterday that your boss – you know, the guy who's kind of been the source of most of our suffering for years – is actually an alien although I'm not sure if he's ALWAYS been an alien or he just decided to take the real Henshaw's place sometime in the past Rao knows how many years for whatever reason. And did I mention I plan on confronting him about this in a matter of minutes?_ “I just... have a lot on my mind today,” Kara offered feebly.

Alex squinted in a way that suggested she knew Kara wasn't being completely forthcoming but fortunately didn't press the issue... much. “Want to talk about it?”

“Maybe later.” Kara cast her gaze around the DEO's command centre, trying and failing to locate the person she had come to speak to – preferably in a safe and private setting. “Hey, uh... Have you seen Henshaw? I need to speak to him about something.”

The look Alex gave her could not be described as anything but gobsmacked. “I'm sorry, did I just hear you say _you want to talk to Henshaw_?”

If not for her nerves and the feel of Mon-El's constant support, Kara was sure she would have snapped at her adoptive sister's tone. “Yes. It's important. I'm sorry, Alex, but this really can't wait.”

“...He's in his office. Go up those stairs; it's the fourth door down the right tunnel.” Having picked up on Kara's mood, Alex complied but not without a concerned frown on her face. “Kara, is everything okay? Do you need me to come with you?”

Kara mustered her best smile and answered as honestly as she could before she left. “Don't worry, I can handle it just fine on my own, Alex.” _At least, I hope so. Rao, I really hope so._

The journey to her destination seemed to pass by in a blur, and yet the second before her knuckles rapped lightly on the door stretched on forever. At every step, there was the option – the temptation – to reconsider and turn away... but she steeled herself and forged ahead like she always did.

“Enter.”

Neat. That was the first word that came to mind when she opened the door to his – was the alien even a he? – office. Nothing was out of place and there was nothing on the table, walls or any other surface that could be considered unnecessary, sentimental or anything of the like. In essence, the room was nearly devoid of all personality, and she wondered if it was by accident or design.

“Supergirl.” His voice pulled her attention away from the room's decorations – or lack thereof – and to its occupant who was standing near his desk and studying her with unnerving intensity. “This is a surprise.”

One last chance to turn around and forget this had even crossed her mind. “I'd like to talk to you. In private.”

He seemed mildly amused. Or maybe that was just her imagination. She'd never been very good at reading him but then again she'd never really tried; after all, there had been no point... until now. “Is that so? Well then, close the door behind you.”

It felt like an ominous suggestion but she did it anyway; if the worst possible scenario really did happen, she at least knew his office door was flimsy enough by her standards for her to demolish as she made a hasty escape. Unless he had a stash of Kryptonite in his desk drawer. Which she could only pray to Rao he didn't.

“...You said you wanted to talk?”

“You're an alien, aren't you?” she forced herself to ask before she finally lost her confidence for good.

...Even if she ended up on a steel slab after this, the completely stunned expression on his face would have been totally worth it. “...Excuse me?”

No outright threats to have her gruesomely murdered or dissected in the name of 'science'. Bizarrely enough, it bolstered her resolve to keep pushing. “I know you are. What I can't figure out for sure is whether you – by which I mean Hank Henshaw – have always been an alien or the real Henshaw is a human and you're impersonating him for some reason.”

Somewhere in the middle of her speech, his face had gone completely devoid of emotion, and his movements were extremely controlled as he leaned across his desk and pinned her with his gaze. “That is a very serious accusation you're levelling there, Kryptonian.”

“And that's not a denial,” she challenged him, her own body tense and ready for a fight she prayed would not take place. “I said I wanted to talk and I meant it but if you attempt to use your position here to punish me for knowing your secret, I'm going to make it clear right here and now that I _will_ go down swinging... and if I have to, I'll take you down with me. On the other hand, if you're willing to talk to me in a less... dangerous... location, I know where we can meet later tonight.” Then she softened her tone. “Please. If there's a good reason for this, I'd like to hear it.”

They both stared at each other in complete silence with neither one so much as twitching for what felt like hours before some emotion flashed across his face and he relaxed with his head bowed. No, not relaxed; he looked... defeated? “...You said you have a place in mind?”

His indirect agreement to her offer caused most of the tension in her body to fade away although she remained alert in case he was being duplicitous. “Yes. The small warehouse district in Chevron Bay. There's an abandoned building at the very edge of it near the docks. Will nine or ten o'clock work for you?”

“...Yes.” He kept his head bowed, preventing her from seeing his expression. “Is that all for now?”

Out of all the scenarios she had envisioned and prepared for when she had planned this confrontation, the outcome that had actually unfolded had never even crossed her mind and she was off balance to say the least. “...Yes.” She shuffled her feet, suddenly aware she was full of pent-up fight-or-flight energy that now had nowhere to go. “I... I guess I'll see you later then.”

A slight nod was his only response, and it was a different kind of nervousness that hastened her departure of not only his office but the immediate vicinity.

“Hey.” Once again, Alex seemed to appear out of nowhere although this time Kara had a feeling her adoptive sister had been lying in wait and ready to jump in at the first sign she was in danger. “What happened in there? You look kind of shaken.”

“It's okay, Alex. It's just...” Kara trailed off as she cast a glance backwards in the direction that she had come. “It went better than I thought and I guess I'm still trying to process it.”

“Huh.” Alex couldn't have looked more disbelieving if she'd tried. “So what was this big urgent talk about anyway?”

“Just... trying to get some answers,” Kara answered evasively and hurriedly followed it up with the best reassurance she could muster when Alex started frowning. “I'll tell you the moment I can, I promise, but not... not right now, okay?”

Naturally, Alex's frown deepened at that, and for one very long minute she looked like she was going to start demanding answers outright. Whether it was their current location or the pleading expression Kara was very sure she was wearing was unclear but she fortunately refrained. “I'm going to hold you to that.”

“I know.” _I just hope the answers I find won't cause you to do anything rash_, Kara thought worriedly to herself.

* * *

As luck would have it, Supergirl was needed to assist with a burning apartment building on the other side of the city shortly before the appointed hour. As a result, Kara found herself running – or rather flying – late to a meeting she herself had arranged, wondering in a slight panic as she cut through National City's night sky if she had unwittingly created an even bigger problem for herself than before.

All those worries fled her mind when she finally reached her destination and found someone unexpected standing on the roof.

“Mr Jones?” she called out confusedly when she landed in front of the figure and confirmed up close that her eyes were not deceiving her. “What are you doing here?”

Unlike their previous encounter, the private investigator was grimness personified. “My apologies. I find it easier to walk around with this face for... several reasons.”

_'This face'?_ “What-”

“But...” He sighed, and the simple act somehow seemed to make him smaller than he really was. “I suppose this isn't the face you were expecting to see.”

Then, before she could voice another aborted question, his entire body seemed to burn – like his very appearance was a piece of paper that had been set alight by embers – only to be replaced by an entirely different body underneath.

When it was all over, it was Henshaw who was standing before her instead... only it was a Henshaw she had never seen before. The coldness and disdain she associated with him was nowhere to be found; instead, there was a sorrow so great it was almost palpable.

That sorrow was what remained when his appearance changed again... and when she recognised the species of alien standing before her, she understood instantly.

She and Mon-El had tried speculating what kind of alien 'Henshaw' might be but neither of them had even considered... “You... You're a Green Martian,” she whispered, her hands covering her gaping mouth in shock. “But I thought...”

“I am the last.” Somehow, his sorrow became even more pronounced with just those four words.

Even though she was not the last of her own species, Kara knew the pain all too well, and the heart Mon-El always said made the universe look small in comparison ached for this fellow survivor. “What's your name?” she asked gently.

His features, so alike and yet unlike her own, were hard to read as were his blood red eyes, but he eventually answered her question after a long stretch of silence. “J'onn J'onzz.”

“It's nice to meet you. Can I call you J'onn?” At his slight nod, she smiled softly and continued. “How long have you been on Earth, J'onn?”

He took a breath that shook his entire formidable frame. “...I don't remember. Since...” he trailed off as he lifted his gaze towards the sky – towards Mars, where his people had all died centuries ago.

There was no need for him to say any more, and because she had only just met him – as his true self anyway – she didn't think it was her place to ask him to confide in her.

She had arrived at this meeting with a hundred questions and now she had about a hundred more... but they could all wait. This was probably the first time in so long he had spoken out loud in some way about his loss and she was intimately familiar with how that pain and emptiness never truly faded no matter how many years had passed.

So she simply stood there in complete silence on that roof with him, staring up at the night sky and quietly sharing his grief of homes destroyed and families taken away far too soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally, a new-old face reveals himself (literally)! And I hope you guys liked the Karamel content in this one (I certainly enjoyed writing it, of course). Like before, I'll be working on a couple of prompt fics next but hopefully that won't take too long so I can start on the next chapter soon enough. With that, I'll see you guys with my next update!


	13. Fathers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For some, fatherhood is a privilege lost too soon. For others, it is a gift squandered too easily.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! So... yeah... This ended up being SUPER late... again... and I'm really sorry about that. A lot of things happened so my (admittedly self-imposed) deadline kept getting pushed from one weekend to the next... but I got it done in the end and here we are! Some of the slowness might have been due to the events in this chapter for several reasons so my hope is that the next one will go a lot smoother and faster (plus I have some time off which I hope to use productively so fingers crossed). Anyway, that's enough rambling; hope you enjoy the chapter.
> 
> Oh, before I forget, here are a couple of things you may or may not have missed in the last chapter:  
1) The 'John Jones' appearance J'onn uses is Phil Morris aka the John Jones from Smallville. Consider it my own little Easter Egg, haha.  
2) Eve was the one behind Lucy winning that mysterious "lucky draw" for a romantic getaway trip for two to Ojai. She used her new secret company bank account to finance it and got Sam to help with the finer details although Sam naturally had no real idea what exactly she was being an accomplice to.

Surprisingly, it was J'onn who broke the silence with a deep and heavy sigh.

“Forgive me,” he murmured as he finally lowered his gaze from the sky and turned to face Kara. “I understand you have questions. More than a few, even.”

“It's okay,” she assured him softly with a shake of her head. “They can wait. We don't have to talk about anything you don't want to. Especially not right now.”

“No.” Ah, so the authoritative tone he'd used as Henshaw had not been solely for cover; it was, in a way, his natural voice bleeding through. “I... The answers you deserve are long overdue.” His shoulders sagged just a little. “Even for the questions you didn't have until after I revealed my true face.”

His statement caused her a bit of alarm and she began to eye him warily. “Did you read my mind?”

“I couldn't even if I wanted to,” he revealed to her surprise. “Your Kryptonian mind is completely closed to me; if I were using only my telepathic powers to search for life near me, it would be as if you were completely invisible.”

“I see...” That truly was a relief. As much as it seemed like J'onn was a friendly figure, she didn't want him poking around her head and learning things she preferred to keep secret – namely everything that had to do with Mon-El, not to mention potentially picking up on her connection to him. With this worry having been put to rest almost as quickly as it had manifested, she refocused herself on the matter at hand. “All right, let's talk,” she said. “But please... If I'm crossing a line or prying too deeply into something you don't want to discuss, just say the word and I'll drop it.”

“Very well.” He drew in a breath as if to steel himself before continuing. “What do you want to know first?”

“...Can you tell me more about yourself?” she asked hesitantly. “Whatever you feel comfortable with sharing for now, at least.”

“I am... I was... a Manhunter,” he revealed haltingly, referring to his people's equivalent of the police. Silence descended upon them once more as he looked down at his feet, and it was a while before he spoke again. “You know about what happened.”

The extermination of the Green Martian species by their White Martian brethren had barely been mentioned in her studies back on Krypton but Mon-El had taught her what little he had learned through his own lessons when he had first introduced White Martians to her ever-growing list of training opponents. It made sense in an uncomfortable way; after all, it was an event from long ago in a galaxy far from their own and neither of their people had likely considered it relevant to them and their lives. “...Only on a general level but yes.” She studied him as she weighed her next words carefully. “Have you been hiding here on this continent since you arrived on Earth?” If he had, she couldn't imagine how terrible it must have been to see or even experience once more the horrors he had escaped being perpetuated by humans on their own kind.

To her quiet relief – and judging by the way some of the tension bled out of his frame, his as well – he shook his head. “No, I landed elsewhere and roamed from place to place. My abilities made it somewhat easy to blend in and there were many kind souls who helped me along the way but...”

“...but you still felt alone,” she finished for him, and the ache in her chest grew when he nodded ever so slightly. “I'm sorry you had to go through that.”

“And I'm sorry you know first-hand what that's like,” he replied, his voice heavy with empathetic sorrow.

Mon-El had helped keep that loneliness at bay but this was neither the time nor place to reveal his existence to J'onn for multiple reasons so Kara mumbled a word of thanks and changed the subject. “Have you been...” she floundered a little as she tried to figure out the best word to use, “...borrowing appearances all this time? Or can you create your own?”

“I can but it takes significantly more effort,” he explained. “It's much easier to... borrow, as you put it.”

“But why Henshaw?” she finally blurted out the most burning question she had been trying to hold back all this while. “How did you- No, _when_ did you become him?”

All of a sudden, the sorrow that had been radiating off him intensified to such an extent that she could almost taste it. “...Perhaps we should sit down for this.”

Dread filled her at his suggestion but she nodded and complied, perching herself carefully on a rusty AC unit while leaving enough room for him. It was only when he had sat down next to her that she could see his expression up close and recognise it for what it was even though only one side of his face was visible to her: guilt.

The next words out of his mouth explained the reason behind it.

“I was in Peru when the DEO first became aware of my existence with the unwilling help of Dr Jeremiah Danvers.”

She stared, speechless, as the memory of a final goodbye long ago surfaced in her mind and the first of many puzzle pieces began falling into place.

He kept his gaze fixed on the horizon as if looking at her would rob him of what little strength he had to tell his story. “Henshaw personally led the DEO squadron tasked with exterminating me and Jeremiah had been brought along to continue his work in tracking me down. My telepathic powers alerted me to their presence as well as their intentions and I was able to keep my distance as a result. However, I sensed that Jeremiah was not like the others so when he accidentally disturbed a snake and it was about to attack him, I decided to intervene. My intention was to flee immediately afterwards but he... he convinced me to stay and talk to him. He said... He said he knew I wasn't a threat to anyone and wanted to help me.”

Despite the grim mood, she somehow still managed a small smile. “That definitely sounds like something Jeremiah would do.”

A ghost of a smile flickered across his lips and he finally turned his head just enough to meet her gaze. “He didn't even need to start telling me about you and Alex for me to know how much he loved the two of you; his thoughts of you and Eliza were so loud and filled with love that I didn't even need to try and read his mind to hear them.” Then grief clouded his features and he looked away. “I... I had a wife and two daughters too.”

“My deepest condolences.” She hesitated for a second before slowly and gently resting her hand on his arm. His skin felt like slightly rough stone and was cool to the touch, her brain noted with mild surprise, and she found herself distractedly wondering if being on Earth had any effect on his Green Martian physiology.

Her train of thought was derailed when he let out an audible exhale. “Thank you,” he murmured and took another deep breath before continuing. “I was... Because I was too focused on him trying to convince me that he would help me stay safe by proving to the DEO that I wasn't a threat, I didn't notice Henshaw sneaking up on us until it was too late.” His free hand moved to touch a spot on his torso although she couldn't tell if he had done it consciously or not. “He shot me but it wasn't fatal and Jeremiah threw himself at Henshaw which prevented him from firing again. In the midst of the scuffle, Henshaw... stabbed Jeremiah but Jeremiah persevered and threw him off a nearby cliff. I... I tried to help him but his wound was too severe. Before he... He asked me to take care of his family. You in particular.”

Even in his last moments, Jeremiah had been protecting her. It made Kara's endless guilt over the irreparable damage she had done to the Danvers family grow even more. “Is that why you took over Henshaw's identity?” Then it struck her and she stared at him in shock as she covered her mouth with her free hand. “It was you. You were the one who came to the house that night.”

J'onn nodded gravely. “I felt it was my duty, being the one responsible for Jeremiah's death.”

“But you weren't the one who killed him!” she argued but her anger at the injustice of the situation faded quickly and was replaced by guilt. “And Alex... I apologise on her behalf. She shouldn't have punched you.”

“It's understandable,” he countered with a shake of his head. “She couldn't have known – none of you could or rather were supposed to know – and I was wearing Henshaw's face. And it's also completely understandable that her animosity towards me remains since I still wear his face around her.”

Suddenly, it occurred to her that Alex barely hid her feelings for Henshaw even when he was around... and J'onn had telepathic powers... “Oh Rao,” she mumbled. “You haven't been... reading her mind, have you...?”

Even though his expression remained stoic, there was the sense that he was suppressing a slight smile. “I don't have to. Like her father, she... thinks quite loudly.”

“Oh _Rao_.” This time, she covered her face with both her hands in second-hand embarrassment.

“Her favourite fantasy ends with you throwing me into the sun,” he shared with that same dry tone.

“Please don't tell me any more,” she begged miserably, aghast that Alex would do – or rather imagine – something like that.

A low rumble of a laugh escaped him, and she thought she would have been able to appreciate the moment a lot more if it wasn't somewhat at her expense. “Very well.”

Her eagerness to change the subject was tempered by her reluctance to darken the slightly lighter mood they had found themselves in but they only had so much time tonight. “If you don't mind, I'd like to ask... Why didn't you bring back Jeremiah's body?”

Just as she had predicted, his faint smile evaporated although what he said next made her forget her guilt quickly enough. “I did. At least, to America. But when we arrived, a team from Cadmus was already waiting and they confiscated it.”

“Cadmus?” she repeated in confusion. “I've never heard of them before.”

“Project Cadmus is a genetic engineering facility and research laboratory operating under the US government that... I suppose you could consider it the DEO's other half,” he began to explain with unmistakable reluctance. “While the DEO exterminates the alien threats it finds, Cadmus experiments on the ones it captures.”

Kara let out an involuntary gasp. If Henshaw – the real Henshaw, that is – had had his way all those years ago, then Cadmus' lab would most likely have been her final destination. She had been lucky enough to escape that fate thanks to Jeremiah's sacrifice but how many other aliens had suffered and ultimately died in that place? She wasn't sure she wanted to know. “But Jeremiah's a human! What possible use could they have had for taking him?”

J'onn hung his head, the very picture of regret. “That I cannot tell you. I couldn't determine their intentions or even where they were taking his body even with my powers and refusing at that point would've made me look suspicious so I was forced to comply. Even after all these years of pretending to be Henshaw, I still haven't managed to find the answer.”

“It's okay.” She reached out to rest her hand on his arm again and squeezed it with as much strength as she dared to use, unsure how his natural strength and resilience measured up against hers. “You tried your best and you're still trying. That means a lot to me and I'm sure Alex will feel the same way when you tell her-”

“_No._” The forcefulness in his voice was so great and sudden she actually pulled her hand back in shock. “Alex cannot know my true identity.”

“But she deserves to know!” she argued back, confused as to why he insisted on maintaining his ruse to such an extent. “You deserve to have your name cleared in her eyes! The both of you-”

“_No, Kara!_” He was so agitated he got to his feet and started pacing furiously. “Not even _you_ were supposed to find out! Don't you see? On the off chance my true identity gets exposed, your foreknowledge will put you in danger not just with the DEO but also with Cadmus! The same goes for Alex! She. _Cannot._ Know. You. _Cannot._ Tell. Her.”

“J'onn-”

The beginnings of her next protest died on her lips when he stepped close enough for her to see the fervour and desperation burning in his red eyes. “Kara, _please_. I promised Jeremiah I'd keep the both of you safe. If anything happened to either of you because of me...”

In that moment, she caught herself wondering if she had inadvertently made him relive the loss of his own daughters and felt immeasurably guilty. Despite that, his insistence caused another question to cross her mind and it slipped out of her before she could stop it. “Then why did you recruit Alex? I know my situation was unavoidable the moment I revealed myself by saving that plane but Alex didn't do anything-”

“Except she did,” he cut her off with a correction. “All those years Alex spent digging up every scrap of information there was to find about the DEO... trying to learn the truth about what happened to her father... She'll never know how many times she came this close to finding a solid lead. All because of me. I did everything I could within my power to keep her actions from drawing attention but she kept getting closer and closer until I had no other choice. Bringing her directly under my command was the only way to keep an eye on her and stop her from getting her hands on anything she shouldn't. So please...” This time, his plea communicated weariness instead of urgency. “Please help me continue to keep her safe.”

Long-simmering feelings of guilt surfaced as Kara deliberated the difficult choice before her. She was already keeping so many secrets from Alex and the idea of adding one more to the pile – one that was so intrinsically connected to her adoptive sister and her quest for answers, no less – didn't sit well with her. However, there was no denying the ugly truth behind J'onn's reasoning... and if sharing this secret put Alex's life in danger somewhere down the line, she would never be able to forgive herself. “...All right,” she conceded reluctantly.

His shoulders sagged as if a great weight had been lifted off of them. “Thank you.” Then he drew a deep breath and looked up at the sky. “It's getting late. Unless you have any more urgent questions, I think we should continue our conversation another day.”

“Just one- no, two more.” She waited until he was looking at her again before she continued. “That identity, John Jones... If you already had a way to solve the murder by yourself, why didn't you do it? Why go after the Hozz'ni and create a situation where I had to get involved?”

“Because as much as I didn't want to, I had to,” he explained with a heavy sigh. “There was a great deal of attention being paid to the the case especially coming from the White House and my hands were tied. Even giving you that window to act was a substantial risk and there was a chance questions I could not fend off would arise if I handled everything as John Jones. I needed you to have an active role in the investigation in order to keep suspicion off myself – both my identities at that – and for that I have to apologise.”

“It's all right. Everything worked out in the end and I understand you were in a difficult position.” She paused and eyed him with a mixture of curiosity and mild amusement. “Still... That name... A little _too_ on the nose, don't you think?”

Her cheeky attempt to lighten the mood paid off and he offered her a faint bemused smile. “As someone who was fortunate enough to be able to use her first name as part of her human identity, I'm sure you can understand my desire to be called by my true name – or at least something close enough to it – whenever possible.”

“Fair enough,” she chuckled.

It was his turn to study her with curiosity. “That's one. You had another question for me?”

“Well, it's not really a question per se... and I just want to preface it by saying that I don't want to cross any lines or offend you in any way so don't feel pressured to say yes but...” She chewed on her bottom lip as she debated whether she really should do this or not before finally taking the plunge. He had been shouldering all this pain and responsibility by himself for so long and if she could offer him just a modicum of comfort even if in a rather unorthodox manner – at least, for anyone but her as Mon-El would say – then she wanted to do it. “Can I hug you?”

Just as she expected, J'onn looked so startled that he looked as if she had just declared her intent to surrender herself to Cadmus. “What?”

“I don't want to assume but... it's been a while since someone hugged you, hasn't it?” she asked gently. “I admit I don't know much about your culture so I apologise if I'm being-”

“Yes.”

She blinked.

“...Yes,” he repeated slowly as if he himself was unsure why he was agreeing to it. “You can.”

“Okay.” With the level of care one used to approach a wounded animal, she came closer and closer until she could wrap her arms around him.

As she quickly discovered, hugging him was like hugging a pillar of ice that had been basking in the sun. It made sense – his Green Martian physiology was vastly different from that of a Daxamite or even a Kryptonian – but it didn't bother her all that much. Besides, he needed this – or she at least believed he did – and that trumped everything else.

To her quiet but pleasant surprise, he slowly lifted his arms to hug her back... and she could _feel_ it.

If their time had not been finite, there was no telling how long they would have stayed like that.

* * *

When Kara opened her eyes in the dream world, she was not surprised to find Mon-El pacing like a caged dragon. It said a lot about how tense and caught up in his thoughts – most likely about her and her safety – he was that it actually took him a moment to notice her return. When he did, the change was palpable; he visibly relaxed and relief was written all over his face.

“Thank the gods!” In a heartbeat, he closed the distance between them and wrapped her in his tight hug which unlike J'onn's radiated familiar and welcoming warmth. “When I felt nothing from you I wanted to believe that it meant you were fine and I did everything I could think of to distract myself but-”

“-you couldn't stop yourself from worrying,” she finished for him, guilt colouring her voice. “I'm sorry, I should have sent you a signal that I was okay. I ended up really- no.” She shook her head as much as she was able, trapped in his embrace as she was, and made a concerted effort to rub soothing circles into his back as an apology and to further calm him down. “Being distracted is not an excuse-”

“It's fine,” he cut her off softly and kissed her hair for good measure. “I take it that means you got all the answers you were looking for and we don't have anything to worry about on the Henshaw front?”

“I wouldn't say all of them but we definitely cleared up the most important issues tonight and he's open to continuing our discussion at another time.” Letting out a soft sigh, she began relaying everything she had learned including the uncertain fate of Jeremiah's body and J'onn's plea to keep his secret from Alex. Silence followed, leading her to assume he was taking his time to properly absorb all the information she had just shared, and she let him be until her curiosity got the better of her. “Mon-El?” she prodded cautiously.

“Well,” he said in an almost flippant tone, “I guess that means I can't break Henshaw's jaw when I get to Earth like I wanted to.”

Stunned, she pulled away so that she could stare incredulously at him. “_Really?_ _That's_ what you took away from all that?”

He simply shrugged, completely unrepentant. “I _am_ glad to know that you've got someone else who also happens to be pretty powerful looking out for you, don't get me wrong, but I have my priorities and that was one of the first things I wanted to do when I got to Earth.”

“_That is NOT a sensible priority!_” She pulled away entirely so that she could better glare at him. “Mon-El, please tell me you haven't been planning to exact some kind of revenge on everyone who's ever hurt me all this time.”

“I could but I'd be lying,” he answered, his blasé attitude still firmly intact.

She groaned and dragged one of her hands down her face. “It would be really nice and helpful if you didn't start your time on Earth by committing a crime, you know.”

“A prank then?” he offered without any change of expression as if they weren't discussing his recently exposed plans for vengeance on her behalf. “I'm good at those as you know so they'll never even suspect me.”

“I'm pretty sure you'd be the first or second suspect if someone like Lord started experiencing a ton of 'accidents'...” she pointed out with a shake of her head. “Besides, you know I'd try to stop you, right?”

“Emphasis on 'try',” came his quick rejoinder which caused her to roll her eyes.

“Why do I get the feeling you're going to be nothing but trouble the moment you arrive here? Don't answer that,” she quickly warned him the moment her rhetorical question came out of her mouth, prompting him to grin mischievously. Still, with the reveal that 'Henshaw' was actually a powerful ally in disguise, maybe she could relax a little about her situation and the difficulties she anticipated in her endeavour to protect Mon-El from the DEO in the future. Now all she had left to pray for was a quick resolution to all her other problems and that no new ones would rear their ugly heads.

* * *

That bit of wishful thinking lasted up until she arrived at CatCo the next morning with Ms Grant's last-minute revised breakfast order to find herself getting into the lift with an entire squad of FBI agents.

The feeling that something bad was about to happen only increased when they only got off at the same floor as her... and marched straight to Winn's workstation.

“Special Agent Cameron Chase from the FBI,” the woman at the head of the group introduced herself to a stony-faced Winn. “Your name is Winslow Schott Jr, correct?”

“That's me,” Winn replied with obvious reluctance.

“I'm sure you're aware that your father escaped prison this morning.” Kara's eyebrows reached for the sky. His father? But Winn had told her he was an orphan. “Has he called you?”

“No.”

“Has he visited you?”

“Again, no.”

“Has he attempted to contact you in any way?”

“For the last time, _no_. He wouldn't even know where to look, okay?”

“Mr Schott, your father is unhinged and extremely dangerous-”

“So nothing's changed. That's good to know.”

“Did he have any friends he might want to contact?”

“If it weren't already apparent by the trail of bodies that he leaves in his wake, he hates people. So no, he didn't have any friends.”

“As his son, you must have some-”

Winn's chair slammed into the cubicle wall behind it when he leapt to his feet, and the sound was like a small explosion in the dead silence of the usually noisy office. “The day my father set off a toy bomb and killed half a dozen people was the day I stopped being his son,” he snapped, his usually cheerful features twisted into an uncharacteristic expression of pure anger. “I'm done here.”

“Mr Schott-” Special Agent Chase started only to cut herself off as he stormed past her and towards the lift. “Let him go,” she called out when one of her fellow agents moved to stop him. “We know where to find him if we need to talk to him again.”

“Before you continue to harass one of my employees, Special Agent Chase,” Ms Grant's cool voice cut through the tense atmosphere like a hot knife through butter, and Kara turned towards her boss to find Lucy of all people standing next to her, “I'd prefer it if you talked to one of my lawyers first.” She turned back towards Lucy. “Consider this part of your interview process, Ms Lane.”

Interview process? It was one incomprehensible surprise after another, and after finally putting together that Winn's supposedly dead father was actually the very much alive and dangerous criminal the media had dubbed 'Toyman' Kara's head was close to shutting down. As a result, she barely heard Lucy introduce herself as CatCo's acting general counsel to Special Agent Chase and only snapped back to reality when Ms Grant yelled for 'Keira'. Even as she hurriedly fulfilled every single one of Ms Grant's demands like usual, however, her mind remained fixated on Winn's situation, and the moment all her work was done she headed straight for his apartment.

“I guess it would be too much to hope for that you didn't hear anything at work earlier,” was how he chose to greet her when he opened his front door.

“It was hard to miss,” she admitted hesitantly, aware that trying to play dumb would be futile even though it could make him feel better. “Can I come in?”

His already worn expression became slightly more pronounced but he let out a heavy sigh and stepped aside to let her pass. “Thanks. For checking up on me.”

“You're my friend, after all.” Her relief at not being turned away quickly faded as she prepared for what promised to be a very emotionally taxing conversation. “You said your parents were dead.”

A smile that was more like a grimace contorted his features. “Yeah, well, they're dead to me so that's close enough in my book.” He dropped himself down on his couch, closed his eyes and dragged a hand down his face. “Do you know why I didn't tell you the truth? Because I didn't want you looking at me the way that you're looking at me right now.”

“Winn-” she started as she sat down next to him.

“But you know what's even worse?” he cut her off although she couldn't tell if he was aware he'd even done so. “He wasn't always crazy. In fact, he was a good dad. He was... He was _normal_. We'd go to his workshop and tinker away until my mom had to call us to come home for dinner. We built _so_ many toys together.”

“...So you never saw any signs?” she forced herself to ask when he fell silent.

He dropped his hand and hung his head. “No. He was... He was quiet. Always scared to death of losing his job. So he worked himself to the bone every day. Then his boss, Chester Dunholtz, stole his designs and got filthy rich off them. And I knew he was angry about it. I mean, I'd be too if I were in his shoes... but I... I didn't know how angry he was until it was too late. I guess no one did.”

“Did your dad try to fight back before he...?” she trailed off.

A sound that barely passed itself off as a laugh escaped him. “No, he was a coward; he didn't file a lawsuit, he didn't stand up for himself and he certainly didn't say a single thing to even me. What he did instead was put a bomb in a teddy bear and send it to his boss... except his assistant was the one who opened the package instead.” He buried his head in his hands. “She died along with five other employees.”

Kara remembered coming across an old article about the incident years ago but it was something else to hear the gruesome details from someone so closely tied to it. “I know there's nothing anyone can say to make you feel better right now but at least your father is keeping his distance.”

“I wish that were true.” Winn pushed himself to his feet and dragged himself over to his kitchen counter where he fetched a small cardboard box before sitting back down on the couch and passing it to to her. “This was waiting for me when I came home.”

It didn't seem likely that his father would send him a bomb but in light of past events, she thought she could be forgiven for scanning the box with her X-ray vision first. What she found inside was unsurprising to an extent, but the bizarre Batman-like pull string toy was not something she would have ever expected to see with her own eyes.

With great trepidation, she pulled the string.

“Son, I've missed you.” The man's voice that filled the apartment was chilling in its surface-level warmth. “Come see me at our favourite place; I'll be waiting for you.”

“Oh, Winn...” She dropped the toy back into the box and studied his conflicted expression. “Do you know the place he's referring to?”

He shrugged slightly. “Could be the arcade we used to go to sometimes after I finished school or the old Slingschott Toys factory he used to own where he'd show me his latest creations. Either one of those.”

“...Are you going to tell the FBI?” she prodded carefully.

He squeezed his eyes shut. “I should. I know I should. But...” A noise full of aggravation – of years of pain and rage – slipped out. “_I don't know, okay?_ I've spent my entire life just trying to forget what he did – trying not to be consumed by this anger that I have for him – and instead forgive him so I can move on with my life. But I still... _I just hate him._ And there's a part of me that thinks it would be fine if the FBI killed him instead of just putting him back in jail. The world would be better off for it if that happened.”

This was a side of Winn she had never seen before and it both worried and scared her. “I think it's normal to feel the way you do right now but you don't want that on your conscience. It'll haunt you for the rest of your life. I'll find him and put him back in prison-”

“_What's the point?!_” he exploded as he shot to his feet and waved his hands angrily in the air. “There's something rotten inside of him – something that can't be helped – and there's nothing that suggests he's worth even trying.”

“That's not true. He's... He's just... sick,” she found herself saying as she stood up as well and reached for him when no other word would come to mind. “Sometimes... Sometimes when something bad happens to a perfectly normal person, they just snap-”

“_No!_” Once again, his furious outburst stunned her into silence. “No, it can't be like that, okay?! Because if it is, then what's to stop it from happening to _me_?!”

For an indefinite amount of time, the only sound inside the apartment was Winn's harsh breathing. Then, just as quickly as his rage had manifested, it evaporated and all that was left was bone-deep exhaustion. Sapped, he collapsed onto the couch again, a shell of his usual cheerful and lively self. “You know, my father and I were inseparable back then. We looked the same, we talked the same, we were good at the same things... Everyone used to joke that it's like I was his clone or something. But I am, aren't I? His genes are in me and they're ticking time bombs just waiting to go off and turn me into him.”

“That's not going to happen,” Kara insisted vehemently as she sat back down and grasped his hand, a part of her painfully reminded of Mon-El who similarly tormented himself over whether he would someday turn into his parents. “You're a good person, Winn.”

“You know, that's what people said about him,” he laughed bitterly. “Then he cracked. Now every time I start to get angry, I think, 'Could this be it? Could this be the day that I lose everything?' And what scares me is that I'm never sure about the answer.”

A frown creased her brow and she dared to tighten her grip just a fraction. “You're _not_ going to turn out like him, Winn. And do you know why? Because our experiences may not be the same but we both know what it's like to have the course of our lives irrevocably changed in a single moment. Both of us could have given in to our rage over what happened to us _but we didn't_. _We didn't take it out on other people._ Instead, we found ways to keep going. And now we're both trying our best to make sure no one else goes through what we did. You wanted proof you'll never become your father? Well, there it is. And if that's still not enough, I'm going to keep finding more proof until you finally believe it yourself.”

He turned to face her and the look in his eyes was different now so she began to think she was getting through to him-

Then his eyes began sliding shut as he leaned in.

Incomprehension as to his intentions kept her rooted in place for one very long second but the moment they became crystal clear to her, she jerked away and off the couch in a thundering heartbeat. White noise filled her head as she stared blankly at him, unable to fully comprehend what had just happened.

Her abrupt actions seemed to shock him back to himself and his expression became one of shame and regret. “Kara, I am _so_ sorry-”

“I-It's okay. It's fine.” She was probably crinkling. She couldn't be sure. What she _could_ be sure of was that she was walking backwards rather robotically towards the front door. “I-I... I'm sorry, I have to- I have to go.”

Deaf to the half-hearted calls of her own name, she turned on her heels and fled his apartment.

_He tried to kiss me._ She'd faced off against vicious aliens intent on killing her, dealt with Ms Grant's difficult and endless demands, saved lives as Supergirl... and yet this relatively innocuous event had her shaking as if she had just been forced to watch the most terrifying horror movie to ever exist.

Winn had just tried to kiss her.

_Winn_, her friend.

Her mind was a jumbled mess of half-formed thoughts and several emotions she couldn't name in her current state while her body continued working on autopilot to get her home.

She didn't know what she was supposed to do.

So she called the first person that came to mind, her hands trembling uncontrollably the entire time.

“Hel-”

“He tried to kiss me,” she blurted out the second the call went through, too frazzled to remember her manners.

For at least a full minute, there was only dead silence. Then Eve finally spoke with a voice so cold it was a wonder ice hadn't formed on the phone in Kara's hand. “...Who did?”

“_Winn._” Kara was only just aware enough of her surroundings to avoid the other people walking on the pavement. “He just- His father – who apparently isn't actually dead – escaped from prison this morning and the FBI came to ask him about it and he left so I decided to check on him after work – you know, to make sure he was okay – and-” Her voice cracked and she realised then that her vision was starting to blur. Was she crying? Why would she be crying? It didn't make sense. Just like what Winn had done or at least tried to do. “_Eve, he tried to kiss me._”

A sudden and loud burst of highly creative swearing erupted from Kara's phone and nearly caused her to drop it. “Sorry,” Eve said when she finally stopped. “That wasn't aimed at you, that was for... well, you can guess. What are you going to do?”

“Do?” Kara echoed hollowly. “I-I don't- What _am_ I supposed to do? Am I- Should I go back and talk to him-”

“_Absolutely not_,” came Eve's quick and almost harsh answer, cutting off Kara's question before she could even finish it. “I meant Mon-El. Are you going to tell him the moment you get home?”

Kara nearly tripped over her own feet at the unexpected mention of Mon-El's name. “M- _What?!_ Why?! I don't know how he'll react! Besides, Winn just tried; he didn't actually- There's no reason he has to know!” Then she hesitated. “...Right?”

“...Kara...” Eve said very slowly in a way that suggested she was trying to control her temper, “I'm going to give you some leeway here because I know you're not good at this kind of stuff and you can't think straight right now but trust me when I say this: Keeping this a secret from him is a bad idea. First of all, you're going to feel incredibly guilty about it. Secondly, it's pretty obvious you didn't want Winn to kiss you but if you try to keep it a secret, it's going to make you _look_ guilty because it'll imply there's something for you to hide. So please... believe me when I say that the best thing you can do for your relationship is to come clean. If he knows you as well as you say he does, he'll understand. Okay?”

“O-Okay.” Letting out a shaky exhale, Kara scrubbed away her tears. “Okay, I'm... I'll tell him as soon as possible.” Her fraying thoughts drifted in the direction of the one who had created her current situation. “I... I don't know what to do about Winn.”

A low growl came from Eve's end of the line and Kara thought she could hear the sound of keys jingling in the background. “Leave him to me.”

* * *

“Idiot,” Winn cursed himself for the umpteenth time with his head in his hands. “Stupid, _stupid_ idiot. _What were you thinking?_ Of course you weren't thinking. Stupid, stupid, stupid.”

Loud, furious knocking on his front door snapped him out of his pity party and for some reason, his instincts were screaming at him to not respond or even give any sign he was home.

What he heard next explained it.

“_WINSLOW SCHOTT JR_,” Eve's thunderous voice bellowed from the other side of the door with enough force and fury that it felt like the whole building was shaking from it, “_OPEN THIS DOOR RIGHT THIS SECOND OR SO HELP ME, WATCHING ME TAKE A SLDEGEHAMMER TO YOUR PRECIOUS PLAYSTATION IS JUST GOING TO BE THE START OF YOUR SUFFERING._”

He gulped and broke out in a cold sweat, feeling the chilling embrace of death itself begin to wrap around him. A voice in his head screamed at him to run away – to crawl out the window and down the rusty fire escape if he had to – but he knew that taking that course of action would get him into even worse trouble. Eve was a force of nature; there was no escape and to try would be to court disaster.

Swallowing and praying that today would not be his last day in the mortal realm, he dragged himself to the door and unlocked it.

When it swung open, he only had one second to catch the look of murderous rage on her face before his vision was filled with the instrument of his grisly demise.

“JUST.” Whack. “BECAUSE.” Whack. “A.” Whack. “GIRL.” Whack. “IS.” Whack. “NICE.” Whack. “TO.” Whack. “YOU.” Whack. “DOESN'T.” Whack. “MEAN.” Whack. “SHE.” Whack. “LIKES.” Whack. “YOU.” Whack. “OR.” Whack. “THAT.” Whack. “YOU.” Whack. “CAN.” Whack. “JUST.” Whack. “TRY.” Whack. “TO.” Whack. “KISS.” Whack. “HER.”

“_Ow!_ H-Hey- _Ow!_ W-Wait-” he protested futilely as he raised his arms in a desperate attempt to protect himself from her relentless onslaught. “Isn't this a bit much?!”

The next swing was somehow even more powerful than the ones before. “'A _BIT_ MUCH'?!” she raged, her murderous aura so palpable now that he could almost feel it suffocating him. “I'LL SHOW YOU WHAT 'A BIT MUCH' LOOKS LIKE, BUSTER! DO YOU HAVE _ANY_ IDEA WHAT YOU DID?!”

“Well why don't you stop hitting me and start talking instead then?!” he cried out partially out of a need to know what could have warranted this reaction – from _Eve_ of all people – and partially in a blind bid to save his own life.

She made a noise that brought unspeakable creatures from some hellish dimension to mind but thankfully stopped swinging her weapon of choice which turned out to be nothing more than a rolled up albeit rather thick magazine. “You're supposed to be smart and yet you can't figure it out?! Fine then, let's start with-”

Suddenly she went quiet and her furious expression turned into one of confusion.

Perplexed by the unexpected change, he eyed her warily. “...Eve...?”

Blinking sluggishly, she raised a hand to her neck where he noticed something resembling a black toothpick was protruding.

Then she closed her eyes and crumpled to the ground in a heap.

“Eve! Hey!” Panicked, he rushed to check on her-

There was a prick on his own neck, and he had barely reached for the spot to find some foreign object sticking out of it when the darkness claimed him.

* * *

Kara had gone through at least three versions of her speech before she had finally felt prepared enough... yet the moment she opened her eyes in the dream world and saw Mon-El, she froze.

The way his welcoming smile faded the moment he noticed her expression just made the guilt she was feeling compound. “Hey, what's wrong?”

“I... I have something to confess,” she started tremulously, praying to Rao as hard as she could that everything would turn out all right, “and I... I just want to say up front that I didn't know what was going to happen a-and I stopped it – at least to some extent – the moment I realised what was going on-”

“Whoa, whoa, hey. Kara, slow down,” he immediately tried to calm her with both his voice and his touch. “You're not making any sense and I'm starting to get really worried here. Just take a deep breath and tell me what's going on with you.”

Unlike usual, the presence of the blue-grey energy in her head did not comfort her and she looked up into his eyes with great trepidation. “Promise me you won't get mad?”

The blue-grey energy stilled and his face became unreadable. “...All right.”

Even though he had given his word, a part of her wondered if he would be able to keep it... and she didn't think she could blame him if he didn't. “Winn... H-He... He tried to kiss me just a short while ago.”

Almost immediately, his hands let go of hers and a myriad of emotions flickered across his face although he remained silent.

His reaction made her panic and she scrambled for the words to explain the circumstances. “I-It's not whatever it is you might be thinking, please believe me. I just- I found out this morning his father isn't dead but in prison only he escaped this morning and the FBI came to interrogate him at work so he left and I was worried about him so I went over to his apartment to check on him as soon as I could and talked to him about it and-” She finally stopped for breath and swallowed before finishing her story. “...and that's... that's when it happened.”

Throughout her rambling speech, he had slowly moved away until he was just out of arm's reach and turned to stare at a random spot on the ground.

“...Mon-El?” she whispered when he still said nothing or even so much as twitched for a long while. “Mon-El, please say something.”

“Are you going to accept his feelings?” he asked in a strained voice.

Fear and guilt transformed into utter confusion in a heartbeat. “W-What?”

His hands clenched and unclenched, and the stoic mask he had been wearing cracked to be replaced by an expression that she couldn't figure out.

What he said next just sent her mind further into a tailspin.

“If you're worried about... social protocol...” he said haltingly as his hands clenched and unclenched again, “I... I will teach you what you need to-”

“'Social protocol'?!” she cut him off, at her wit's end and feeling something suspiciously like anger flickering to life deep inside without quite understanding why. “Would you please start making sense?!”

Her outburst caused him to finally lock gazes with her and she found she didn't like what she was seeing in those dull grey orbs. “We started off as friends, Kara. You... Emotional connections are important to you and... and it's not outside of the realm of possibility that the change that occurred in our relationship would happen again-”

“_Mon-El._” He was being vague but she had an idea where he was going with this and it was just making her even angrier. “Are you... Are you seriously suggesting what I think you're suggesting?”

His chosen method of responding to her question did nothing to improve her mood. “I'm aware that you might... that I cannot meet all your needs especially in my current situation-”

“I can't believe this.” A harsh noise that was doing a poor impression of a laugh burst out of her. “After everything we've been through... After so many years of us being together, you can _still_-” She was too furious to even finish her own sentence and that rage combined with her chaotic state of mind to create an unorthodox next course of action. “You know what? I'm going to show you just what I think of your stupid suggestion,” she all but snarled before marching right up to him and yanking him down for a rather brutal kiss.

* * *

“I love you. Do you love me?”

The high-pitched artificial voice pierced the darkness and dragged a reluctant Winn back into the realm of consciousness. His head felt like someone had stuffed it full of cotton and the same applied to his mouth much to his groggy disgust. _What the hell happened? The last thing I remember is-_

“God, look at you.”

That voice.

As if a bucket of cold water had been dumped on him, he snapped to full alertness and made to get up-

-only to find it impossible due to his wrists and ankles being tied to the chair in which he was sitting.

Fear and dread settled deep into his bones as he slowly lifted his head and confirmed the identity of the person who had spoken.

“My son.” On anyone else, the look of fatherly pride would have been heartwarming... but on the face of Winslow Schott Sr, it inspired nothing but self-loathing. “My good boy. My greatest work.”

“Dad.” The word tasted like ashes in Winn's mouth. “You need to let me go and turn yourself in. _Please._”

Winslow tilted his head to the side and did the same with the doll in his lap. “Why? I broke out of prison for you – for _us_. I know I was gone for a very long time and I'm sorry about that but I'm here now. We can be a family again.” Then his lips curved downwards. “You never visited. Not even once. Why? I just wanted to know that you were okay.”

Despite the tense situation, Winn managed to let out a disbelieving snort of laughter. “No, I was not '_okay_'. I watched my dad get dragged off to prison when I was _eleven_. For _murder_. How could I be '_okay_' after that, _Dad_?”

It disturbed Winn not that his father was giving him a sad look but rather that it actually seemed genuine. “That's something else he took from me. And I want it back.”

“'He'?” Winn echoed warily, hoping against hope that it wasn't who he suspected. “Who's 'he'? And what is it you want back?”

“Chester Dunholtz,” Winslow unfortunately confirmed, and just like that the rage Winn had seen in his father's eyes that fateful night years ago returned with a vengeance. “It's all his fault. I lost over a decade of being your father because of him.” Then it disappeared and was replaced with what could only be described as dissonant serenity. “But we're going to change that. We're going to make him pay.”

Against his better judgement, Winn found himself getting angry as well. “Make him pay?! Pay for _what_?! _He didn't make you send that bomb, Dad!_ _You_ did that all on your own! And for what, stealing your dumb toy designs?!”

“_NO!_” All pretence of calm gone, Winslow leapt to his feet while the forgotten doll on his lap fell face first onto the dusty floor. “Don't you see?! If _he_ hadn't done what he did, then _I_ wouldn't have been forced to do what I did! He didn't just steal my designs; _he stole your childhood_! He stole my chance to watch you grow up and your chance to grow up with a father who loves you!” The anger vanished as quickly as it had manifested and that dissonant serenity made its unnerving return. “But I have a plan on how we can make it right.”

Winn had already started shaking his head before his father had even finished. “No. No, there is no 'we' in anything. Whatever it is you plan to do, I don't want any part in it. Let me go, Dad. If you... If you really love me, just let me go and turn yourself in.”

“You're not listening again,” Winslow sighed as if they were just having a normal father-son disagreement over mundane things like who was supposed to have put gas in the car. “This is our chance to be together again – the chance I've been working towards all these years – and I'm not going to let it slip away. Chester has to die, you understand? He has to die by your hand. And once he's dead, everything will be just perfect.”

“Perfect how?!” The rope was starting to cut deep into his wrists due to all his struggling but Winn barely felt the pain. “We'll both end up in prison! Tell me how that's supposed to be the perfect outcome, Dad!”

Winslow's smile returned, and the sight filled Winn with dread. “And that's what makes this the perfect plan. Because whether we escape or end up in prison or what have you, we are going to be together.”

Even though Winn had known long ago that his father needed professional help, it only truly sank in then that the man he had once looked up to was all but gone. “No. No, I'm not going to kill him. I'm not going to kill _anyone_. _Ever._ I'm not... _I'm not you._”

“But you are.” That unsettling smile crept its way back onto Winslow's face. “Do you know that even with all the amazing toys I've built, you're still the best thing I ever made? Do you know why that is? It's because you're just like me.”

“I'm _nothing_ like you,” Winn responded through gritted teeth even as his treacherous mind recalled his conversation with Kara earlier. “And I'll _never_ be anything like you.”

“Don't underestimate yourself,” Winslow chided his son as if he was merely encouraging him to pursue his career of choice instead of cold-blooded murder. “We're the same, you and I. My genius – the one that lesser people call madness? That's inside of you too. Because of me. We're connected – _forever_ – and together, we can do anything.” He sighed regretfully. “But it's a difficult thing I'm asking you to do, I know, so I understand if you need some encouragement.”

Winn's stomach churned as he watched his father walk to the side where a cage-like structure had been welded together. “What are you-”

Then his gaze landed on the unmoving form lying inside the cage and his blood ran cold as he remembered that he had not been alone when his father had abducted him.

“Rise and shine,” Winslow called out as he smacked one of the bars with just enough force to create a sonorous sound that reverberated throughout the abandoned factory. “It's time for you to join the conversation.”

A weak groan was the reply, and Winn could only watch helplessly as Eve sluggishly pushed herself up from the ground with a hand clutching her no doubt throbbing head. “What the hell...?” she asked groggily before she realised the unfamiliarity of her surroundings as well as the man standing in front of her. Understandably alarmed, she scrambled to her feet and backed away as much as the cage would allow. “Where the hell am I? And who the hell are you?”

Winslow's face fell although whether it was genuine or for show was anyone's guess. “I'm hurt. Does my son not talk about me at all?”

“Your son? Who-” Eve's confusion disappeared the moment she turned her attention away from the older Schott and finally spotted Winn. “Oh, you have _got_ to be kidding me.”

“Eve,” Winn called out, fear making his voice hoarse as his brain refused to acknowledge what he was sure he was seeing. “Eve, your neck...”

“What about my-” Clearly getting a little frustrated, Eve raised a hand to her neck although her expression went blank the second she realised what Winn was referring to. “...Oh.”

“Thank you for getting right down to business.” The only one present pleased with the current situation for obvious reasons, Winslow walked over to the table nearby and picked up a small remote. “Now, as you've probably guessed, the device around your girlfriend's neck-”

“She's not my girlfriend,” Winn cut in automatically at the same time Eve tersely said, “He's not my boyfriend.”

“-is a little... incendiary,” Winslow finished as if he hadn't been interrupted. “This-” he waved the remote in his hand, “-is naturally keyed to it and... well. Let's just say that if you keep your head and don't give me any reason to press this button, she gets to keep hers too.”

“Your father's a real charmer, Winn,” Eve snarked unhelpfully although in all fairness, there wasn't much else she could actually do.

“Dad. Dad, please,” Winn started begging with desperate fervour, “let her go. I'll do whatever you want, okay? I'll kill Chester. I'll kill him just like you want me to. There's no need to involve her or anyone else.”

“I want to believe you, son, but I prefer not to take any chances. Chester is attending a televised charity event leading up to the National City Toy Convention at the Martine Hotel and I'll be watching the news so I'll know if you've kept your word or not.” Winslow cut Winn free from his restraints and put what looked like a toy gun on his lap but Winn was too stunned to even move. “This should pass through the metal detectors without any problems. On that note, please try not to call the police or those wonderful FBI agents who've been trying to reach you. I don't have to tell you what will happen if you do.”

“Winn.” Eve's sharp voice snapped Winn out of his stupor and he glanced in her direction to find her staring at him very pointedly. “Tell your father that if he doesn't let me go in the next five minutes, he's going to really regret it.”

“You're really not in any position to be making any threats, young lady,” Winslow chastised her with a bemused smirk.

Eve ignored the older Schott and kept her focus on Winn who stared back incredulously. “Five minutes, Winn. I'll even use my watch to make sure.”

It took another second for Winn to figure out what she was actually telling him and when he did, he swallowed and gave her a slight nod. Without another word, he shakily picked up the gun on his lap and got to his feet before heading for the exit.

“Good luck, son,” Winslow called out at Winn's retreating back before turning his attention back to Eve. “I'm sorry I didn't prepare a chair for you but no matter how things turn out, I doubt you'll need it.”

“Oh, shut up already,” Eve snapped as she glared at him. “And for the record, you're not the first psycho to have kidnapped me and threatened my life.”

* * *

Winn broke out into a sprint in the opposite direction of the city centre the moment he was outside, his heart pounding with more than just adrenaline. Once he was sure he was far away enough from his father's old factory and there was no one around, he pressed the hidden button on his watch that triggered what he had then jokingly called the 'Supersignal'.

Then he waited as he caught his breath, every second that passed feeling like an hour.

A whoosh and a breeze that came out of nowhere told him he was no longer alone, and when he spun around Supergirl was standing before him as if she had always been there.

The wary expression on her face and her silence hurt, he couldn't deny that, but he shoved the feelings down and tried his best to stay focused. “It's my father. H-He's holding Eve hostage.”

Instantly, Kara's entire demeanour changed. “Tell me everything.”

“He kidnapped the both of us from my apartment,” he explained in a breathless rush. “They're in his old factory right now and he's put a bomb collar on Eve. If I don't kill his former boss when he appears on television in-” he paused to check his watch, “-about an hour, he'll... he'll kill her.”

“I'm not going to let that happen,” she declared with utmost conviction. “Anything else I need to know?”

“He has a remote. For the bomb, I mean,” he clarified somewhat needlessly. “I don't know if there's a fail-safe or anything like that but he's most likely booby-trapped the place so be careful.”

“I will, don't worry about me.” She blinked and turned as if she had heard something from afar. Eve's own signal, most likely. “Get somewhere safe and wait for my message. Once I tell you Eve's safe, call the FBI and tell them where they need to be. I should go; she's probably freaking out right now.”

* * *

“-and one other thing- _Hey!_ Look at me when I'm talking to you!”

For the seventh time that night, Winslow thumbed the button on the remote and resisted the urge to press it. If he had known this would happen, he would've chosen a more cooperative hostage.

* * *

In a weird way, Kara found it a relief when she arrived just outside the factory to hear Eve furiously chewing out her captor instead of being terrified out of her mind. Her best friend's heartbeat was a little faster than usual which was understandable but at least Eve was keeping herself together as best as she could.

Not that Kara was about to let this nightmare go on for much longer.

Careful to keep her distance as she scanned the inside of the building with her X-ray vision, she took note of all the traps that had been set to 'greet' any trespassers. It said something that every possible entryway was rigged with some kind of substance she was sure was of the explosive variety. Clearly the Toyman's love affair with bombs had not abated throughout his long stay in prison.

She chewed her bottom lip as she contemplated her options. Her invulnerability would save her from the worst of any explosions that might occur – at least, she hoped so – but there was no telling if Eve would emerge completely unscathed in such an outcome. Besides, there was also the matter of the remote in his hand; the moment she revealed herself, he was undoubtedly going to use it to keep her in line and then there would be two people who needed rescuing instead of one.

Then she spotted the large window higher up on one of the factory's walls that had not been rigged with explosives and came up with a very unorthodox idea.

* * *

“-and while I'm at it, your colour coordination _sucks_! No one with functioning eyes is going to buy a doll wearing a dress that looks like _that_ unless they're using it for voodoo!”

Eve barely knew what in the world she was yelling any more. Every possible insult her brain could conjure up spilled out of her mouth in an angry torrent without pause and she was almost sure she'd repeated one or two by this point. Oh well. It wasn't like she was being graded or anything and even if that were the case, she didn't care. This was immensely cathartic and much better than just standing around trying not to be scared and pretending there wasn't a bomb around her neck.

“_Enough!_”

The enraged exclamation stopped her train of thought and she snapped her mouth shut as Mr Schott rounded on her with an expression that promised pain and possibly even death. Oops. Guess she'd been pushing her luck a little too much.

“You have been a very uncooperative guest,” he snarled as he stalked towards her, remote still in hand although his thumb was thankfully not on the giant button on it, “and I have tolerated this for-”

There was the sound of glass breaking and a small blur struck him on the side of the head with enough force that he collapsed on the floor sideways in an unconscious heap.

She blinked, unsure what had just happened, but received her answer when a red and blue figure zipped in through the broken window.

At the sight of her best friend, she beamed and finally allowed herself to breathe easily. “You know, we really should stop meeting like this.”

“That's my line,” Kara shot back, a small grin curving her lips as she bent down to pluck the remote from Mr Schott's limp hand and crushed it into bits before walking over. “By the way, you usually have better taste in jewellery than that necklace.”

“It's not like I picked it out myself, you know, but since you object to it so much why don't you help me get rid of it?” Eve countered as she waited for Kara to tear the cage apart and let her out.

“Don't mind if I do.” Sparing only a few seconds to inspect the bomb collar for a fail-safe, Kara removed the device before tossing it to the other side of the factory.

Threats all dealt with, the two friends threw their arms around each other and laughed in relief.

* * *

'She's safe.'

Everything after that message had been a blur.

Winn barely remembered calling Agent Chase who, as his father had implied, had left more than a few missed calls on his phone, much less how he had ended up back at the abandoned Slingschott Toys factory.

Reality re-established its hold when he was forced to watch the man who had once been his entire world get escorted away by police for the second time in his life.

_Déjà vu_, he thought bitterly to himself as his eyes followed his father's slow march to the black SUV waiting for him.

Then, as if he had felt he was being watched, the elder Schott lifted his head and looked straight back.

Those few seconds where father and son did nothing more than lock gazes across an empty lot seemed to stretch on forever.

But just as suddenly as it had begun, the moment ended and the black SUV was already disappearing into the night.

Before Winn could even consider asking Agent Chase what would happen to his father now, however, the sound of squealing tires caught his attention. When he turned towards its source, he found a car that looked out of place among the police and FBI vehicles pulling to a hasty stop.

Any questions he had were answered the moment its occupants emerged.

Mr and Mrs Teschmacher wasted no time rushing towards their daughter who had been in the midst of telling Agent Chase what had happened – minus a few key details, no doubt – and enveloping her in a tight hug.

Looking on from a distance, he found himself suddenly overcome with immeasurable envy – envy towards Eve for the simple luxury of having a father who would never think of putting his child in harm's way and a mother who would come running when danger reared its ugly head instead of disappearing forever.

Something dark and ugly stirred deep down inside.

“Hey.”

Kara's soft voice snapped him out of his thoughts and when he blinked, he found her standing in front of him dressed in civilian clothes instead of her supersuit. She must have flown back to change and waited for a plausible reason to be present – a call from the Teschmachers, perhaps – before showing up to be there for her best friend just as she had been as Supergirl.

That realisation, as with the sight of her, didn't help calm the maelstrom in his head.

“Your father's going back to prison,” she told him – a somewhat pointless statement since it was a foregone conclusion. “We can all go back to our normal, Toyman-free lives now.”

“I shouldn't have kissed you.” He didn't know why it was the first thing he said and judging by her stunned expression, she hadn't expected it either. “I'm really sorry, Kara.”

Her mouth formed a thin line but she shook her head slowly. “It's fine. It doesn't matter.”

“_Of course it matters_,” he fired back, shocking both of them again with how forceful he sounded. “Kara... My dad kept his feelings bottled up for years and then he just... _exploded_. Because... Because he was a coward like me.”

“Winn, you're not-” she started to protest.

“Let me finish. Please,” he begged, only continuing when she reluctantly did as he had asked. “Look, I know I dropped this huge bomb on our friendship when I kissed you and I should've told you how I felt a long time ago... but I was too scared to say anything. I was too scared to stand up for myself.” Some small part of him was telling him to stop talking but he couldn't. “Kara, I'm going to tell you the truth now: I'm in love with you. I've been in love with you for a _long_ time. Since before you were... Since before you told me your secret.”

She looked sad and possibly even a little regretful – two things he had expected but still hurt to see nonetheless. “Winn... I can't accept your feelings. And I don't... I don't want things to change between us.”

“Before this thing with my dad, I probably would have gone along with that,” he replied, and there was something in his own voice he didn't recognise. “_God_, I would've just pretended that kiss never happened until the end of time. But I don't know if I can do that now. I don't know if I can sit down with you and smile at you and eat potstickers or whatever and pretend like it's not killing me to just... be around you and not be _with_ you. Kara...” He dragged a hand down his face. “I can't keep bottling things up any longer. I'm just... I'm just too afraid of what could happen if I did.”

She blinked a few times in rapid succession. “So... What does that mean for us?” she asked in a voice so faint he almost didn't hear her.

“I don't know,” he answered honestly. “I really don't know.”

“...Okay,” she whispered as she dropped her head and took a deep breath and then another. “Okay.” When she lifted her head to meet his gaze again, she somehow looked even sadder than before. “I guess... I guess this is it then.”

His throat constricted and it took some effort to force the next words out of his mouth. “I guess so.”

A slight nod and another blink followed. “Then... Goodbye, Winn.”

It was only when Kara had already turned around and started walking away that Winn began to slowly wonder if he had made a mistake – if, in an attempt to avoid his father's fate, he had instead taken one step closer to becoming just like him.

But it was too late.

He was alone in the world again... and this time, he only had himself to blame.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's a wrap on another chapter! I know it was a bit on the filler-y side since the Toyman incident doesn't actually have much to do with the main plot but it was important to set a few other building blocks in place for the story as a whole so I hope you didn't mind it all that much. If it helps, the next chapter will be moving the main plot along for better or worse so look forward to that! See you then!
> 
> Personal Note for the Chapter  
As much as I adore Winn and feel for him, I don't think I'll ever be able to forgive him for the frankly jackass way he behaved at the end of this episode of the show.


	14. Phantoms

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Kara's turn to be haunted by figures from the past.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This... was so much later than even I anticipated and I'm really sorry about that. It's been a long few weeks for me and this wasn't an easy chapter to write so... yeah. It's not as long as my usual(?) chapters but I hope you don't mind that and enjoy it anyway.

“I should've hit him harder.”

Out of everything she had expected Eve to say upon hearing what had transpired with Winn that tragic night, Kara had not seen that one coming at all. “...What?” Then the full weight of her best friend's statement hit her and her jaw dropped. “Wait, you did _what_?”

“Hit him,” Eve repeated with complete nonchalance and even glared at Kara as if the Kryptonian was the one behaving abnormally out of the two of them. “Repeatedly, I might add. Did you honestly think I was going to do anything less than that when I went over to his place? After what he did, he should actually count himself lucky that his father kidnapped us before I could do anything worse to him.”

Irrational guilt began to gnaw at Kara and she dropped her gaze down to her untouched cup of tea. “That seems a little... well, extreme, don't you think?”

“_Kara._” The severe way Eve said her name caused Kara to look back up to find herself being glared at with the fury of a thousand suns. “_He tried to KISS you._ While you were doing nothing more than being a supportive friend. And no, being in a bad state of mind is _not_ an excuse. On top of that, the last time you and 'unexpected kiss' were in the same sentence, you turned into a fountain of tears and misery so forgive me if I show him no mercy for reopening _that_ wound.”

“It's not like he knew about that,” Kara feebly tried to defend Winn even as she sent a silent prayer of thanks to Rao for the good sense to have not told anyone else about this. Somehow, she had a feeling Alex would not hesitate to pay him a visit either if she found out. “Doesn't seem fair to hold that against him.”

Eve harrumphed. “Newsflash, genius: When it comes to stuff like this, fairness was never invited to the party. And again, it's still a crappy thing to do in general.” A low growl escaped her. “To think he'd pull the 'nice guy' card even after that... I've half a mind to go back to his apartment and try to beat some sense into him again. The only way he could make things even worse for himself is if he's still doing it at work.” Then she paused and narrowed her eyes at Kara. “He _is_ keeping his distance at work, right?”

“He... um, took a few days off, actually. Probably because of... well, you know.” There was also the matter of Ms Grant having callously asked if he was willing to do a TV interview and whether he could “cry on cue” seeing as he seemed like “a very sensitive boy” but Kara didn't think there was any point in sharing that.

“Good.” Eve's tone was that of a strict principal talking about the resident troublemaker being sent to detention – an impression that was only strengthened with the way she took a sip from her coffee cup. “Hopefully he uses that time to get his head out of his ass among other things. I've already texted him the number of a friend of Mom's who happens to be a therapist; it's up to him to actually do something with it. Meanwhile, _you_-” she pinned Kara with a sharp glare that made Kara flinch, “-had better just focus on your own problems instead of trying to reach out to him in some misguided attempt to restore your friendship.”

Kara heaved a miserable sigh and sank into her seat, her eyes staring unseeingly at the steam rising from her drink. “I know, I know... You don't have to tell me how full my plate already is...” Besides, considering the way Mon-El had reacted to the revelation that Winn liked her as more than a friend, she wasn't all that keen on doing anything that could make him doubt where he stood in her life again.

A soft clink dragged Kara out of her thoughts and she looked up to find Eve had put down her cup and was now eyeing her with genuine worry, her righteous fury at Winn nowhere to be seen for the moment. “Speaking of which, how are you going to manage your juggling act from now on?” Then her gaze turned flinty again. “Are you going to ask James for help then?”

Kara couldn't understand why there was an edge in Eve's voice – why would she be mad at James too when he hadn't done anything? – but decided it was probably safer not to ask. “No. His office is too far away so he can't keep an eye – or ear, more like – out for Ms Grant. Besides, he seems to... uh, be having some kind of trouble with Lucy working at CatCo for some reason and I don't want to get in the way of him working out those issues with her.”

“I see.” Strangely, Eve seemed pleased with Kara's response but became concerned again before Kara could even begin to puzzle over the rapid mood change. “In that case, is there anything I can do to... well, pick up the slack instead, I guess?”

“Thanks but it's okay,” Kara reassured Eve with a smile and a shake of her head. “I'll find a way to manage. In a sense, this has made me realise I might have been relying on all of you a little too much this whole time so I feel like I need to kind of prove to myself that I can actually do this.”

Despite Kara's reassurances, Eve still looked worried. “If you say so... but don't hesitate to tell me if there's anything – and I mean _anything_ – I can help with, all right?”

Kara's smile widened and she squeezed Eve's hand lightly. “I will, I promise.”

* * *

Of course, as the human saying went, 'Easier said than done.'

Keeping a literal ear out for trouble in National City had been an easy enough task to take over; all she had needed to do was key her earpiece so that she could listen in on NCPD's transmissions at all times. Then, just like before, she would find an opportunity to sneak away and save the day as Supergirl.

The problem – the one she was making little to no headway with solving – was figuring out an alert system for when Ms Grant was once again mangling her name so that she knew when she had to rush right back to the office or risk getting fired.

Based on her performance so far, the latter outcome was getting closer and closer to becoming a reality every day.

“I would hesitate to describe your job performance thus far as 'passable', Keira, but even a blind idiot would describe your recent cavalier attitude towards your responsibilities as beyond unacceptable.” As usual, Ms Grant pulled no punches as she coolly savaged Kara over her random unavailability, tardiness and mistakes. “If you believe your workload is becoming too much for you, I'm sure we can find a solution that would solve both our problems.”

Kara tried to make herself as small as possible as she weathered first the barrage of cutting remarks and now the thinly veiled threat of forced unemployment. “I'm really sorry, Ms Grant. I promise I'll do better moving forward.”

“You'd better.” 'Or else' was the unspoken addition to that frosty statement as Ms Grant turned her attention back to her work and dismissed Kara with an annoyed flick of her hand.

Burning on the inside with a mixture of humiliation and anger, Kara kept her head down as she turned on her heels and walked stiffly back to her desk. As she emerged from Ms Grant's office, she could feel a set of eyes watching her but the moment she looked up, its owner hastily turned their attention back to their computer and pretended to be busy.

Just like that, the fire in her chest was replaced with a now rather familiar ache. Even days after he had returned to work, Winn continued to pretend as if she didn't even exist. Eve's warning resounded in her head and she knew it wouldn't do any good to try and talk to him for a multitude of reasons... and yet... she still missed her friend. That was allowed, wasn't it? She missed him not only because she was now fully appreciating just how valuable his help had been in balancing her day job and her superhero duties but also because he was a friendly face in the office.

She shook her head clear of the melancholic thoughts clouding it and tried to focus on the problems she could – or rather should urgently – fix, namely her bad luck in almost always not being in the office when Ms Grant demanded her presence. Perhaps she could build some kind of system that would send her an alert the moment it picked up the sound of anyone screaming for Keira? It was an avenue worth pursuing especially since nothing else was coming to mind. Maybe the Bokkolids had something that she could use or modify to meet her needs?

As if on cue, the sound of her mangled name rang out from inside Ms Grant's office, snapping Kara out of her thoughts, and she resisted the urge to drop her head onto her keyboard. Right. First she had to survive the rest of her workday. Then she could think about how she was going to make sure she continued to have workdays instead of being unceremoniously introduced to the world of unemployment.

Luckily for her, the rest of the day went by with no more catastrophic instances on either halves of her life and she was even able to leave CatCo a little earlier than usual. Without wasting another second, she headed to the junkyard with a quiet prayer to Rao for his aid and blessing in her heart.

The agitated chattering that greeted her when she approached the Bokkolids' dens, however, made her suspect that her good fortune less than an hour ago had been a fluke.

“Zinork?” she called out cautiously when she finally spotted her friend among the huddle of hunched bodies that was so absorbed in the ongoing conversation none of them had noticed her arrival. “Is everything all right here?”

As one, every single pair of beady eyes turned to look at her with an intensity that made her take an involuntary step backwards. Unusually, they did not light up at the sight of her, gleaming with the thought of potential business; instead, they remained serious and somewhat guarded. Whatever was going on, it had to be serious – alarmingly so.

“Kara of Zor-El.” Even after having been told countless times to simply call her 'Kara', Zinork still refered to her in the Bokkolid equivalent of formal language. Anything less, he insisted, would be a grave sign of disrespect to his most valued patron. (The fact that it misrepresented her name somewhat was an unfortunate side effect that she was just going to have to accept along with the main issue.) “Forgive, forgive. Is urgent matter that brethren and I cannot agree on. Not intention to forget greeting.”

She held up a hand and offered him a reassuring smile. “It's all right. If it's urgent, it's urgent. Is there anything I can help with, perhaps?”

Another Bokkolid – Riktoth, if Kara remembered her name correctly – chose to speak up then, catching Zinork's attention, and the two chittered away for a moment before Zinork turned back to face Kara. “Is suggested we hear Kara of Zor-El's thoughts in order to help make decision if Kara of Zor-El would be willing to indulge.”

“Of course. Please, tell me what's going on.”

“There is signal.” Zinork gestured and one of his brethren brought him a slightly beat-up scanner which he used to show her a steady pattern that repeated itself every five seconds. “Start days ago – very strong, no stop, not Terran.” The intensity of his gaze was explained with his next words. “Signal have unique signature – identical to Arhkan transmitter stolen from me long ago that Kara of Zor-El originally wished to buy.”

Kara's eyebrows reached for the sky and she gaped silently at him for a moment before she managed to find her voice. “Are you- No, of course you're sure. But why would whoever that stole it from you activate it _now_ after so long? And not make any effort to hide it?”

“That is not issue.” Without warning, Zinork's eyes narrowed dangerously and his voice rose in pitch and volume as he shook a fist in the air. “Thief mocks me! Mocks us! To steal something from me and then use in my face – unforgivable! May Yishnik curse thief! Curse thief with thousand years of poverty and hunger! Even return of property should not let thief suffer less!” Then, just as suddenly, he calmed back down somewhat. “That is issue. I want transmitter back. Is mine. All agree. But not all agree is safe to go. Is suspicious. Trap, perhaps. Tell us, what is Kara of Zor-El's thoughts?”

“...Well, I admit it does seem suspicious,” she admitted after taking a moment to think it over before she struck on a solution. “If you're that worried, how about I go check out the source of the signal for you? I'm stronger and I'll be careful. If there's any trouble, I should be able to handle it.”

The smile that formed on his face was all jagged teeth and would have been a terrifying sight on a dark night even for her. “Kara of Zor-El is very kind. May Yishnik bless Kara of Zor-El with much wealth. If Kara of Zor-El bring transmitter back, I will give great deal for next purchase.”

Considering her original intention for coming to the junkyard, a discount sounded like a gift from Rao himself. “All right, I'll hold you to that. Where is the signal coming from?”

(Kara wondered later if she would have volunteered had the Kryptonian known what she would find at her destination.)

* * *

The coordinates Zinork provided led Kara to the construction site of a half-finished apartment building just beyond the more congested parts of National City. Judging by the dustiness and lack of activity, work on the project had been halted some time back although the reason was unclear. It was obvious why whoever had stolen and activated the Arhkan transmitter had chosen this place but that logical deduction only put her further on guard. Whatever their plan was, they probably didn't want someone like her interfering with it... which made her all the more grateful that she had chosen to change into her supersuit beforehand.

Taking a deep breath, she focused her enhanced hearing and picked up the sound of a heartbeat at the topmost floor. Okay, so at least she was only dealing with one person... but it was still a bad idea to get complacent so she stayed alert as she flew up to confront them.

But all her caution could never have prepared her for what – or rather who – she found when she touched down.

“It's been a long time, little one.”

Her heart stopped. _That voice. It can't be._

As if in slow motion, the figure that had spoken stepped out of the shadows, and for a fraction of a second Kara truly believed her mother had somehow survived Krypton's destruction and found her on Earth at long last.

Then the person stepped fully into the light and her irrational hope turned into stunned denial.

Kara had heard so many stories about how her mother and aunt used to love making their parents guess who was who but she had somehow always been able to tell the difference without any help.

Just as she did now.

“Look how you've grown.” Astra wore an expression that was part sadness and part pride as she studied Kara from top to bottom. “From a sweet little girl to a beautiful young woman.”

“But you...” Kara took an involuntary step backwards, her voice a hoarse whisper she couldn't recognise. “You _died_. Before Krypton even exploded. How...?”

A bitter laugh – a sound Kara had never once heard from or even associated with her beloved aunt – escaped Astra's lips. “So that's how it is. Your mother didn't tell you then. About how she sent me away. Banished her own blood. _To Fort Rozz_,” she spat the words out like they were poison. “Imprisoned me for speaking the truth while she told only lies to everyone else. Even to you.”

“Truth? I don't...” Kara shook her head as if the action could somehow bring her back to reality – at least, the reality that she had known less than a minute ago. “I don't understand. What kind of truth would have warranted _sending you to Fort Rozz_?” _What could have warranted lying to me that you had died on a mission?_

“The kind of truth that would have made me a hero. The kind of truth that would have saved our world if I had been able to share it with everyone else.” The Astra standing before Kara looked like the famed general who had undoubtedly struck fear in the hearts of Krypton's enemies, not the warm and gentle soul who had spent countless nights teaching the niece sitting in her lap all the names of the stars in the sky. “It is time for me to educate you once again like I did so long ago, my dear niece. It is time you knew everything about what led to my 'death' at the hands of your mother.”

_I don't want to know_, Kara wanted to say with an intense and sudden burst of desperation yet the words would not leave her mouth.

“Do you remember this?” Astra pulled out a communicator from her pocket – one half of a pair Kara remembered from a literal lifetime ago. “Do you remember the day I gave its sister to you? So that we would always be able to contact each other no matter how far my missions would take me?”

“I-” Dread strangled even the simplest of answers in Kara's throat. “I do.”

A smile tugged faintly at the corners of Astra's lips. “Every mission I have ever carried out was for Krypton's sake and my last one... My last one was no different. The only difference was that the enemies I had to fight were the very people who had given me all my previous missions. Did Alura tell you, Kara? Did she tell you that it was no natural disaster that destroyed Krypton but rather its own hubris and short-sightedness?”

Kara's mind flashed back to the last conversation she had had with her mother and felt her world tilt just a little more again.

“Of course she didn't,” Astra answered her own question with a bitter laugh before she turned serious again. “Our people treated our world like an inexhaustible playground, mining its core with reckless abandon and conducting all kinds of experiments that further destabilised it. I found out that we would suffer the consequences of our actions within a year and knew that I had to do something to stop it. But the High Council would not listen – refused to even grant Non and I an audience – so we were forced to resort to the tactics most familiar to us.”

“You mean warfare.” The urge to hurl was overwhelming. “You... You killed someone, didn't you.”

Something faintly resembling regret flickered across Astra's face but it disappeared so quickly Kara wondered if it had just been her own wishful thinking. “Non did, but it was an unfortunate necessity and we failed regardless. That failure forced us to go on the run but I made sure to take this-” Her fist clenched tight around the communicator. “-with me. I would hold it in my hand to remind myself why I was turning my back on my family – why I had chosen to betray the High Council I had served so loyally for so many years. It would all be worth it if you survived. That was what I told myself every time I started to doubt the course of action I had chosen even for a second. And then... And then my own sister used that – used _her own daughter_ – against me.”

“No.” Kara had already started shaking her head before Astra had even finished her accusation. “Mother... Mother was the best woman who ever lived. She would... She would never have done that.”

But even as the denial formed on her tongue, she knew it was a lie. Mon-El's recollections... The purple alien with the cybernetic implants who had tried to kill her years ago... Alura the mother and Alura the judicator had been two almost completely different people, and the latter had been the side that had been expertly hidden from her as a child.

As if she had read Kara's mind, Astra gave her niece a bitter grin. “She wasn't and she did. Do you want to know how she did it, little one? Do you want to know how she caught me? The thing is... You already know. Part of it, at least. Remember that day in your room? The last time we ever saw each other? You sent me a message using the communicator, asking me to come home. Tell me this because she never answered and I never got the chance to ask you before: Had it been your idea to send that message or had Alura put that idea into your head?”

“I-I... I don't remember.” Or maybe she didn't want to remember. Kara wasn't sure.

“Not that it matters.” Despite her dismissive words, Astra seemed a little dissatisfied that her question would go unanswered. “I followed her out of your room – she knew I would never attempt anything in your presence – and we... Well. 'Talked' isn't the word I'd use for it.” She turned pensive. Forlorn, even. “Your mother and I... So alike and yet so different, our parents used to say, and that moment reflected it best. She begged me to turn myself and Non in – promised that she would plead my case before the High Council and get me a lighter sentence in return. Even in a situation like that, she still clung so stubbornly to the law – to her belief in its absolute nature and infallibility. Never mind that prison meant nothing when our entire race was going to die, you included. When I refused, she summoned the guards that had been waiting for me and... you already know the rest of the story.” The bitterness returned in full force. “Your mother signed the death warrant of our entire race and she used you to do it.”

“Why are you telling me this?” Tears blurred Kara's vision and her voice shook uncontrollably, and it was only sheer willpower and the faint sense that Mon-El was worriedly trying to reach her that kept Kara on her feet. “Why now? Why did you wait for so long before you sought me out?”

This time, Astra genuinely and openly showed some semblance of sorrow. “Because I knew that the humans would never stop hunting Non and I down just like all the others that escaped Fort Rozz. As much as it hurt to acknowledge it, I knew that you were better off and safer with someone who could give you the life you deserved – the life that your mother's selfish and short-sighted decision had cost you. At least until all the preparations were done.”

The dread from before pushed its way to the forefront among all of Kara's chaotic emotions. “Preparations? Preparations for what?”

Astra's next words chilled Kara to the bone. “Rebuilding what we lost.”

“You can't mean...” Kara couldn't even bring herself to finish her sentence.

“Don't you think it's fitting, Kara, that we ended up on another planet where its inhabitants are slowly but surely hurtling towards extinction through their own selfish, short-sighted actions?” Astra asked, an unrecognisable gleam in her eyes. “It's as if Rao himself is giving us a second chance – a way to make up for the losses we've so unjustly suffered.”

“_But this is Earth._” Shaking her head, Kara feebly tried once more to deny the harsh reality closing in on her. “Krypton... _Krypton is gone, Aunt Astra._ You can't just... _take Earth for yourself_. _Humans_ live here. It's _their_ planet, not... not ours.”

“And look how they're treating it, Kara,” Astra snapped as she swept her arm in a wide arc towards the heart of National City. “You see it too, don't you? They're making the exact same mistakes our people did. The pollution, the rampant exploitation of their natural resources, the countless species they have driven to extinction... Much like Krypton, this planet is on the verge of ecological destruction. But Non and I can stop it. _We_ – you included – can stop it.”

“For your own gain,” Kara pointed out accusingly, using her budding anger at Astra's words to bolster her strength. “Putting aside your reasons for doing this, what makes you think the humans will accept your 'help'? Because something tells me they won't even like your methods, whatever they are.”

“That's where you come in.” An unsettling smile formed on Astra's face as she reached out a hand towards Kara. “The humans trust you, Kara. Perhaps not all of them but the ones that don't can be dealt with accordingly. You can convince them of the righteousness of our cause – convince them that it would be in their best interests to work with us instead of against us.”

Unbidden, the memory of Mon-El teaching her the truth behind the war between their planets resurfaced, and a small voice at the back of Kara's head bitterly wondered why history loved to repeat itself so much in her life. Was this how Dax-Am had felt when the Kryptonian High Council of his time had ordered him to convince Sard of the 'wisdom' in living under Krypton's rule? “It doesn't matter how you word it, Aunt Astra; subjugation is still subjugation no matter how benevolent you make it sound. And I won't be a part of it.” Her voice threatened to crack but she anchored herself with the unconditional support she could feel coming from a world unbound by reality. “Even if... Even if it means I have to fight you.”

Astra's smile vanished, and the temperature of the air around them seemed to drop a hundred degrees. “You would stand with them? Against _me_? Your alliance with the humans is counterproductive, Kara. There is nothing to be gained from it but more pain and loss. Why put yourself through that when there is a better way – an easier way – to a brighter future?”

“Because it's the right thing to do.” Hands curling into shaky fists at her side, Kara swallowed and tried one last time to reach the aunt she had only just regained but was now poised to lose again. “Please, Aunt Astra... Deep down, you know this isn't right. You don't have to do this. Just... Just come with me. We can talk to someone who'll listen and do this the right way-”

The sharp laugh that burst out of Astra cut the rest of Kara's plea off. “You sound just like her, you know.” Then she sobered and her gaze turned colder than the emptiness of space. “Non warned me that this would be a futile endeavour but I said that I needed to know for sure. And now I do.” She paused, and her next words were the only warning Kara got for what was to follow. “Forgive me, little one.”

Kara liked to think that years of intense training under Mon-El's diligent tutelage had made her into a decent fighter. Instincts, reflexes, quick thinking, combat moves... Everything that could prove instrumental in keeping her alive had been honed over countless matches against constructs of the worst that War World had to offer.

All of that training, however, was rendered moot in the face of her current opponent.

One second they had still been standing in the half-finished building... and then the next she found her lungs emptied of air as a force stronger than she had ever felt slammed her into the hard ground far below. Panicked screams somehow managed to penetrate the pain and white noise attempting to drown her, and through the stars in her vision she tried to search for the source of the commotion.

But she was given no time to worry about the safety of others.

The blows fell like rain, as relentless as they were brutal. Every strike was purposeful and without mercy, delivering the maximum amount of damage possible. It was all she could do to try and defend herself but even that seemed to count for almost nothing.

Surprise had left her open at the onset of this one-sided battle and now it was sentiment that rendered her powerless to fight back.

Deep down, a part of Kara had desperately clung to the belief that Astra had been bluffing – that the aunt she loved so much would never genuinely hurt her much less try to kill her. She had wanted to believe with all her heart that her words could get through if she just had more time.

She had been wrong.

And now she would pay with her life.

Another hit found its mark, but she was already so weak that she could barely vocalise her pain. Not even Mon-El's valiant efforts to leech as much of her pain into himself seemed to be having any effect. As it was, her vision had started to blur between the real world and the dream world, and she could actually see his hazy figure staggering towards her as he screamed her name.

Then, just as she began to wonder if he would be the last thing she saw before she died, a burst of sound not unlike small explosions erupted somewhere nearby and the beating ceased abruptly.

“Freeze!” “Stop her!” “Keep firing!” “_Supergirl!_”

The last voice was vaguely familiar but Kara no longer had the strength, physical or mental, to recognise it.

She let go.

* * *

“Kara?! Kara, focus on me! Hey!”

The arms around her broken body as well as the chest her bruised cheek was pressed against made the word 'home' form in her fuzzy mind and she welcomed it all wholeheartedly. Even more welcome was the blue-grey energy flooding every fibre of her being, simultaneously drawing out her pain like poison and washing it away as if it had never existed.

She was safe now. She could rest.

Some part of her knew there was something important – something urgent – that she was forgetting right now but she didn't want to remember. Remembering would bring back all the pain and that was the last thing she wanted.

When she could finally bring herself to open her eyes, she naturally found Mon-El looking down at her, pale and distraught. “Mon-El...”

“Hi.” The fragile smile he gave her didn't reach his eyes and their connection made it impossible to hide his still overwhelming concern but he was gentle as ever as he cupped her face with one hand and brushed her cheek with his thumb. “You gave me a really good scare, you know. Think it's too much trouble if I asked you to never do that again?”

It hurt a little to speak but she forced herself to anyway. “I'm sorry.”

“Good,” he murmured as he leaned down to press a kiss to her forehead, and the gesture caused her eyes to flutter shut again. “You should be.” Instead of releasing her, however, he pulled her tighter against him. “What happened?”

His question was innocuous enough but it triggered the flood of memories her brain had been suppressing out of self-preservation. The spell broken, she tensed up and started pushing him away. “I have to go.”

To say that he was confused would be an understatement but he let her go regardless. “What? Kara, what's going on?”

She wanted to stay. She wanted to tell him. She wanted to tell him everything so badly from the beginning to the end but how could she when she still had so many questions of her own?

Answers. She needed answers. Answers would help. If she had answers, the chaos in her head – in her heart – would subside. Still a part of her clung to the irrational hope that what Astra had said was all a cruel lie created for some nefarious unknown purpose. Maybe it hadn't even been Astra at all but an impostor – someone who had borrowed her aunt's likeness to mess with her.

This was what she told herself.

Even though she knew deep down it wasn't true.

With Mon-El's gentle but urgent pleas for her to stay filling her ears, Kara closed her eyes again and forced herself awake.

* * *

Blinding brightness greeted Kara the moment she opened her eyes in the real world, causing her to instinctively squeeze them shut again and weakly raise a hand to shield them.

“Kara! Thank god!”

The light shining down on her vanished and she blinked away the last of the spots in her vision to find another welcome face looming over her. “Alex?”

“Hey, sleepyhead.” Just like Mon-El, Alex wore a smile that didn't reach her eyes. “Looks like the sun lamps did their job. You had me really worried back there.”

“Sorry. And thank you,” Kara murmured as she pushed herself up from the bed she had been lying on. So her pain disappearing hadn't just been due to Mon-El's efforts... and that meant she was in the DEO's medical bay. J'onn had probably seen to it that she received the care she had needed – albeit while still maintaining his aloof Henshaw persona, no doubt – and for that she was grateful.

But she would have to thank him later.

“Wh- Hey! Kara, stop! Lie back down!” Alex ordered with a mixture of panic and confusion as she futilely tried to stop Kara to no avail. “Where do you think you're going?!”

“To get answers.” The tears and pain threatened to overwhelm her but she shoved them down and kept her mind focused on her goal. If she let herself give in now, she was sure that she would never find the courage to uncover the truth. Not today and not ever. Not even when it was far too late. “I'm sorry, Alex. I have to go.”

Without letting her adoptive sister get another word in edgewise, Kara flew out of the base and headed straight north. She pushed herself as much as possible, never once stopping or slowing down until the Fortress of Solitude loomed before her.

Every second of her journey was spent replaying her conversation with Astra from start to end and back again, and so by the time she was pushing the dwarf star key into its slot her mind and heart were once again consumed by a hurricane of almost violent emotions.

Anger was the one that emerged the strongest as she activated the hologram of her mother.

“Hello, Kara,” Alura's hologram addressed her the moment it shimmered into existence.

“Don't say my name right now,” Kara all but snarled even though the logical part of her knew it wasn't really her mother standing before her. “Did you use me to draw Aunt Astra out of hiding when she was on the run?”

The answer was short, immediate and exactly what Kara had dreaded. “Yes.”

“How could you?” Kara demanded to know, voice raw and nails digging into her palms. “How could you do that?”

Once again, Alura's hologram was despairingly dispassionate. “Astra had broken the law. You were the only person she trusted enough and considered worth risking everything to meet even when her instincts and training suggested it might be a trap. It was necessary.”

'Necessary'. It would have been laughable if Kara had been in any state to find some shred of humour in all this. “But could she have saved us? Could she have saved everyone?”

“She was a criminal.”

“_But was she right?!_”

“I am not programmed to give you that information.”

“_TELL ME!_”

“I'm sorry, I am not programmed to give you that information,” the hologram repeated.

It was all the damning confirmation Kara had not wanted. “_You let everyone else die!_” she screamed as she advanced on the hologram. “_All you did was send me away! You could have saved everyone but you ABANDONED me instead! How could you DO that?!_”

As expected of a digital spectre, the hologram was unmoved. “I am not programmed-”

The rest of its emotionless response was drowned out by Kara's primal scream of rage borne of anguish as she let loose a powerful blast of heat vision that harmlessly passed through its target.

She didn't know how long that moment lasted just as she didn't know if it came to an end because she'd spent all her energy or her anger.

Regardless, all that she was left with was her sorrow and pain, and she fell to her knees sobbing as the chill of the Fortress of Solitude closed in around her.

* * *

Kara didn't even realise she had essentially cried herself to sleep until that warm embrace she knew so well enveloped her again and her mind was engulfed by an ocean of blue-grey energy once more. “Hey. Shh. It's okay. It's okay.”

It wasn't – not now and possibly not ever again – but she couldn't stop crying long enough to say so. All she was capable of was the thought that she wished she was not her parents' child, and in response her mind subconsciously exerted its dream world powers to make her supersuit vanish.

But even then it still stopped short of the most damning item of all.

In a fit of profound rage and despair, she made the conscious decision herself and tightly gripped the necklace around her neck before snapping the chain strangling her and tossing it as far away as possible.

Alarm disrupted the waves of calm attempting to soothe her turbulent emotions and the arms around her body shifted so that a hand could cup her face. “Kara?” Mon-El's voice betrayed his worry despite its gentleness. “_Please..._ Tell me what happened. You're really scaring me here.”

“_She lied to me._” Those were unsurprisingly and yet not the first words her brain could form and push out of her mouth. “All these years I thought- But she _knew_. _She knew_ and she just- _Why?!_”

“Kara, you're not making any sense.” His hand exerted just enough pressure to coax her into tilting her head back enough that she could vaguely make out his face through her tears. “Talk to me. Tell me what's going on.”

“Aunt Astra.” Even saying the name was like a stab in the heart, and she squeezed her eyes shut as more tears streamed down her face. “She's alive. She didn't die on a mission like my mother told me. All this time, she was alive and that's because... because _my mother sentenced her to Fort Rozz_. _Fort Rozz, Mon-El._” A hiccuped sob bubbled out of her. “_For the crime of trying to stop Krypton from destroying itself. And she used ME to capture Aunt Astra._ Everyone... Everyone on Krypton... _on Daxam..._ They would all still be alive today if my mother hadn't-”

“Hey, stop,” he told her firmly but gently. “You don't know that for sure, okay? Maybe it would have made a difference and maybe it wouldn't. Maybe it was already too late by then. All you know is what Astra told you. As for Daxam...” He let out a soft sound like a wry chuckle. “Even if your people had tried to warn us about what was happening, my parents would've probably written it off as a ruse of some kind and paid it no attention until it was too late.” Then the quiet sadness flowing into her head made itself apparent in his voice again. “The point is... The point is we'll never know and... and it's no use speculating about what could have been.”

“I know that Aunt Astra and I were both given life sentences by my mother,” she muttered with so much bitterness she almost surprised herself. “We didn't have a choice in what happened to us. She... She damned us both in our own ways along with everyone else.” _Including herself and Father. Including you._

“I know,” Mon-El whispered as he made an attempt to brush away her tears. “But it's okay.”

Instead of soothing the hurt, his words only caused the ever-present rage Kara had believed to have burned itself out earlier to reignite. “_How can you say that?!_” she screamed at him as she struggled to free herself from his embrace, all the while beating his chest with her fists. “_How can any of this be-_”

“It's okay to still love her,” he whispered quietly, seemingly impervious to both the verbal and physical expressions of her blind fury.

All her anger evaporated at his simple statement, leaving behind only the crushing guilt she had been trying to ignore underneath. “How? How can I now that I know what she did? What she _didn't_ do? How can I knowing that she only cared enough to save my life but not everyone else's?”

“Because she's your mother.” The faintest of smiles, its lines comprised entirely of sorrow, formed on his face. “Because in the end, she loved you – more than enough to make sure that you would survive whether or not she failed.”

“Even though she should have done the right thing and saved everyone instead of just me?” she asked brokenly.

“...I think...” he started carefully, “I think your mother did try to save Krypton just as she genuinely believed she was doing the right thing going about it the way she did. And I think... I think that just makes her a flawed person, not a terrible one.”

“I'm only alive because I'm her daughter.” It hurt to think it and even more to say it out loud. “My life isn't supposed to be worth more than someone else's just because of my parentage.”

“Maybe. But things... Things are just how they are and you can't change that.” A soft worn sigh escaped him as he shifted their positions so that he could rest his forehead against hers. “I know this makes you feel even more guilty than before but at the end of the day... At the end of the day, she was your mother and she loved you. So it's okay.” He brushed her collarbone with his fingers and her mother's necklace restored itself around her neck. “It's okay to still love her.”

There seemed to be nothing else to say after that, and so she spent the rest of her stay crying silently into his chest while he held her close.

* * *

“Is there really nothing I can get you?” Alex asked for what she was almost sure was the hundredth time. “Not even... I don't know, more ice cream, maybe?” The thought of suggesting alcohol crossed her mind but she knew how Kara felt about drinking – _her_ drinking, to be precise – and she was sure that if they had an argument about that right now, her original goal of making Kara feel better would fly straight out the window.

The corners of Kara's lips twitched in a vague semblance of a smile as she shook her head. “It's fine. I mean, you saw how much Eve brought earlier; just one more tub and I'm going to need a second fridge.” Some life crept back into those tired blue eyes. “Thanks again for checking up on me, Alex. I really appreciate it.”

“I think I'd have to hand in my big sis card if I didn't do at least that much especially after the way you literally flew out of the DEO,” Alex commented in a weak attempt at a joke. “Besides, Eve beat me here and I'm pretty sure that if it weren't for her meeting early morning tomorrow, she would've stayed even longer.” As it was, Kara had had to remind Eve of said meeting, and Eve's last words before finally allowing herself to be all but shoved out the door had been for Alex to take care of Kara until she went to sleep. (The redundant stipulation seemed a little strange to Alex but she chalked it up to stress over Kara's well-being.)

“Still.” Kara let out a sigh and seemed to sink deeper into the couch, prompting Alex to close the last bit of distance between them and pull her adoptive sister into a tight hug. “Thanks anyway.”

Despite knowing Kara would barely feel it, Alex rubbed soothing circles into her back. “You're welcome.” She fell silent as she contemplated her next words. “I wish I could've warned you somehow. At least told you that your aunt was one of the aliens the DEO was trying to capture or something.”

“S'okay,” came the mumbled response. “It's not like I would've been able to do much even if I'd known she was still alive.”

“Yeah, well, I'm still going to hold it against Henshaw for not being upfront about whatever he does know, that bastard,” Alex muttered with no small amount of venom in her voice.

To her surprise, Kara pushed away at that to look her in the eye and seemed about to say something before she stopped herself and turned away. “I shouldn't,” she murmured to herself so softly Alex had to strain to catch the words.

“Shouldn't what?” Alex prodded. Maybe it was her imagination but it seemed like Kara had been keeping secrets from her lately and the thought alone was enough to make her... antsy. On multiple levels.

Of course, Kara did nothing to help Alex's wariness with her next words. “It's nothing. Don't mind me. I'm just... not in the best state of mind right now.”

“Kara-” Alex started, hearing a slight edge in her own voice that she wished she had managed to suppress before she opened her mouth.

“Alex, please,” Kara begged, and the exhaustion in that simple plea was enough to make Alex stop. “I just... I know you have questions but I can't... I can't answer them. Especially not right now. Can I... have a bit of time alone for the moment?”

In an instant, Alex's suspicions were replaced with overwhelming concern. “I don't think-”

“I'll be fine, I promise,” Kara assured Alex with a weak but genuine smile. “I know what Eve said but I swear I'll go to sleep in a bit. In case you forgot, you and I have to work tomorrow too.”

“...All right,” Alex agreed reluctantly. “But I'm coming over first thing in the morning with your favourites for breakfast and there's nothing you can say or do to stop me.”

This time, Kara actually laughed even if just a little. “Wouldn't dream of it.”

* * *

J'onn only had to wait for a few minutes after Alex had left the building before Kara emerged from the rooftop access door. “I'm sorry if I'm disturbing you but after the day you've had, I thought... I wanted to check in on you.”

“It's okay. And thank you for caring so much.” She slowly made her way towards him, arms wrapped around her body which was all but drowning in an oversized sweater. It made her look so small and fragile that his chest ached. He wanted to hug her but such actions did not come as easily to him as they did to her so he regretfully remained where he stood. “Since you're here, I wonder if... Can I... ask you something if you don't mind?”

“Ask me anything,” he said readily, more than eager to give her whatever was within his power that might ease her pain even if just a little.

Her question, however, made him rethink his offer. “Did you know? That my aunt Astra was one of the prisoners of Fort Rozz you'd been chasing down all these years?”

“...No,” he told her hesitantly, unsure which answer she had wanted to hear from him. “Most of the prisoner records in the database were quite thorough barring several exceptions. There was a mention of two Kryptonians among them but their records were heavily redacted, for lack of a better word. All that was listed was their race and the crime they had committed.”

“...And what was that crime?” she prodded.

He hesitated again but knew there was no point in hiding the truth from her. “...Treason.”

The soft noise that escaped her sounded like a short and sharp bitter laugh. “Right. Of course.” Before he could ask her what exactly she had learned from her encounter with Astra, she let out an audible breath and curled further into herself. “Sorry, I know you have questions of your own and they're important but can they wait until tomorrow?”

He smiled. “Of course. There's no need for you to explain yourself. Go get some rest; if Supergirl is needed tonight, I'll fill in for you. It'll reassure National City that its resident superhero is all right at the same time. As long as it doesn't involve any interviews with the fearsome Cat Grant, that is.”

His attempt at humour actually worked and elicited a slight bemused smile out of her. “That would be asking too much of you, I think, so yeah, just stick to the standard heroics. And thank you.”

“It's my pleasure. Goodnight, Kara, and sweet dreams.”

“Thanks again, J'onn. And I'll try.”

Satisfied that he could do this much for her, he waited for her to disappear back into her apartment building before assuming her superhero form and flying off into the night.

(Hours later, J'onn wondered if he had instead cursed Kara with those words.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What an ominous last line. I wonder what that could possibly mean.
> 
> Compliment for the Chapter:  
One thing Season 1 did well in my opinion is make the main villain/core season storyline very centred in a personal way for Kara.
> 
> Criticism for the Chapter:  
Having said that, the execution was incredibly poor and Laura Bernanti's other commitments which led to Astra's early demise did not help matters. Even so, there was a better way to handle that unexpected turn but that would've required the writers to be at least a little more competent than they actually are. (I have potentially controversial opinions about this but I should probably keep them to myself.)


	15. Utopia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Life is (too) perfect.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This.
> 
> This is the chapter I've been waiting to write since I began this arc... and I predict that the Venn diagram of people who will love it and people who will hate me for it will look like a perfect circle.
> 
> In other words, enjoy...

Warmth.

Peace.

Contentment.

Those were the first few things Kara's mind registered as she slowly and reluctantly rejoined the waking world. She didn't want to wake up; all she wanted to do was stay right here in her little cocoon of blissful tranquillity forever and ever.

Unfortunately, she was the type of person who found it almost impossible to fall back asleep once she had woken up no matter how much she sometimes wished she could do just that. As such, it wasn't long after she started trying that she gave up and finally opened her eyes.

She was rewarded instantly with a very good reason to actually stay awake as well as an explanation for her current contented state and a smile curved her lips. Silently grateful she hadn't moved all that much when she'd awoken, she slowly and carefully shifted into a position that allowed her to better appreciate the sight of her bedmate.

Still very much fast asleep, Mon-El remained oblivious to the undivided attention being paid to him by his audience of one. Despite that, the arm he had wrapped around her waist maintained its snug grip, keeping their naked bodies pressed flush against each other. She didn't mind, of course; being trapped in his familiar embrace was far from the worst fate she could imagine for herself.

As much as she wanted to continue soaking in the warmth radiating unobstructed from his body into hers, however, she knew that they couldn't just spend the rest of the day lazing around like this. He in particular needed to get out of her bed – not to mention her room – soon... and she bit down on the inside of her cheek when a less than innocent idea as to how to rouse him formed in her mind.

With the caution of someone up to no good, she shifted closer to him, not even bothering to keep the mischievous smile off her face as she began pressing feather-light kisses along his jaw. Meanwhile, the hand that had been resting on his bare chest slowly travelled southwards-

A squeal of surprise escaped her when his motionless body abruptly jerked to life and his hand clamped down on her wrist with lightning speed. In the blink of an eye, she found herself flat on her back with both her wrists pinned to her bed and his weight pressing down on her. Any remaining thought or possibility of escape evaporated when he captured her lips in a deep kiss that elicited a muffled moan out of her.

“You,” he started when he pulled away, his voice rough from sleep and desire, “have quite the interesting idea for a wakeup call, Kara Zor-El. Why, one might even be inclined to suspect you of being a Daxamite instead of a Kryptonian with such damning evidence.”

“If I am behaving in any manner that could lead to such a conclusion, it is surely due to your corrupting influence, Your Highness,” she countered easily, relaxed even though she was completely at his mercy.

The smirk on his face and the gleam in his eyes as his gaze swept down her body before coming back up to meet hers caused her blood to warm and she had to suppress a shiver. “Is that so? I think I should feel quite proud of myself if that were the case.”

“Of course you- mmph.” The rest of her dry retort was swallowed up in another searing kiss that rendered her boneless and she very nearly forgot the real reason she had woken him up in the first place. “Mon-El, stop,” she mumbled half-heartedly when they broke for air. “You need to go.”

“Don't need to, don't want to,” he murmured back and tried to silence her with yet another kiss.

Even though she would have loved nothing more than to give in, she resisted the temptation and wriggled one hand free so that she could press it against his chest and push him away. “Mon-El, be serious. The last thing we want is for my parents to find you here-”

“Actually, I'd love to see the looks on their faces if they did so maybe I _should_ stay,” he cut her off with a cheeky grin.

Kara rolled her eyes in fond exasperation and pushed a little harder, causing him to fall back down onto the bed next to her. “Mon-El, we agreed on this. And in case you've forgotten, today is a pretty important day for both of us so you need to leave _now_ or we're both going to to be late.”

“It is?” Mon-El asked with feigned confusion as he remained unmoving while she scoured her room for his discarded clothes, pulling the sheet along with her to cover herself. “I don't remember anything of that sort.”

Tossing his clothes at his face with as much force as she could muster, she levelled her harshest glare at him even though she already knew it would have no effect. “_Mon-El._ You're meeting your future queen, I'm meeting my future husband and if either of us screws this up somehow I don't want to even _imagine_ what the repercussions are going to look like. Now put on your clothes or I'm kicking you out of the window without them.”

“You say that like it's supposed to scare me,” he replied with an even wider grin than before but held his hands up in surrender when she reached for the nearest item which happened to be a datapad. “All right, all right. I'll get dressed and go.”

“_Thank you._ And don't forget your toy,” she reminded him, making sure to add a derisive note to the last word even as she quietly appreciated the sight of him pulling on his clothes.

A burst of laughter escaped him at that. “As I keep saying, it's a prototype individual full stealth unit – which, for the record again, is not its final name. You're just jealous on behalf of your Guild that my scientists thought of it first.”

“As if,” she scoffed. “We would've beat you to it if we wanted to. Also, I feel the need to point out that so far its only use seems to be helping you sneak into my room and give me the fright of my life.”

“You should've seen the look on your face,” he guffawed as he picked up the device in question where he had tossed it on the floor last night before attaching it to his shirt.

“It wasn't funny.” Sulking and a little impatient, she strode over and started tugging him towards the window which dematerialised at the push of a button. “Get going.”

Now it was his turn to sulk although it was clear judging by the mirth dancing in his blue-grey eyes that it was just for show. “What, no goodbye kiss?”

“Oh no, you're not tricking me like that again. I remember what happened the last time I indulged you when you begged for 'just one more kiss'. _Out._”

She made the mistake of trying to shove him out the window which put her within his reach, giving him the opportunity to tug her close and steal a kiss anyway. “Hmm, don't remember that either. Care to refresh my memory again?”

“Scoundrel,” she scolded him without any real fire and swatted away the hand stealthily attempting to free her grip on the sheet she had wrapped around her body. Unwilling to give him another chance to try any more of his little ploys, she gave him one good push that sent him toppling out of the window.

His laughter lingered even after his figure shimmered and seemingly vanished into thin air, and she spent several seconds trying to spot him despite herself before giving up. Closing the window, she let out a soft sigh before turning on her heels and heading for her bathroom with a determined expression. She needed to get ready.

* * *

With the grace of an adult paonca stalking its prey, Mon-El landed soundlessly on the balcony of the residential unit that had been provided to him and his small entourage for their stay on Krypton. There was no sign of any movement inside but he remained motionless for several seconds as he listened out for signs of life before finally relaxing. Having assured himself that none of his companions seemed to have arisen yet, he deactivated the device on his shirt before tapping the electronic lock pick he had covertly left on the balcony's glass doors. The device beeped, and at the signal of its task done he carefully slid the door open and snuck inside-

Something hard struck him on the back of his head with so much force he fell to the ground with white spots dancing in his vision.

“_Gaaaaaaahhhhhh!_”

“Oh my,” came a crotchety voice that was as dry as Daxam's hottest deserts from somewhere in the room. “I apologise, Your Highness; I had naturally assumed that you were a thief or perhaps even an assassin. After all, only unsavoury individuals would come inside using such a secretive manner.”

Clutching the throbbing spot on his skull, Mon-El rolled over on his back and shot a death glare at his attacker. “Don't give me that crap, you living fossil! You knew it was me when you tried to crack my head open with that stupid cane of yours!”

“I assure you that could not be further from the truth, Your Highness,” Bal-Seg replied with a stoic expression, his free hand pressed against his chest while the other righted its grip on his cane. “After all, I am but an old man with failing eyesight and an increasingly feeble mind as you so love to tell me.”

“It certainly didn't feel like it was an old man who hit me...” Mon-El muttered under his breath as he kept massaging the back of his head. It was only once the pain had mostly subsided that he noticed two things and gave voice to them. “Where's Hal-Ed? He didn't go scouring Argo City for me or something, did he? And what in the gods' names is that whining noise I'm hearing?”

Bal-Seg's expression remained unchanged as he pointed at a nearby door which had been locked from the outside for some strange reason. “The answer to both your questions is in there.”

Mon-El stared.

“I wanted my sleep,” was Bal-Seg's only gruff response as he walked away.

A sense of dread crept up on Mon-El as he got to his feet and slowly approached the door Bal-Seg had indicated. After a moment's hesitation, he tapped the lock panel twice and the door slid open.

He was greeted with the sight of a corpse that was somehow the source of the whining, a video communicator loosely clutched in one hand.

Before he could even begin to try and fathom what he was looking at, the corpse stopped whining and raised its head to stare unseeingly at him with bloodshot eyes.

The moment he realised what – or rather who – he was looking at, Hal-Ed came to life and crawled over in a heartbeat to cling to Mon-El's leg like it was a lifeline. “_Your Highness!_” he sobbed, his words barely intelligible due to his blubbering and the fact that he had buried his face into the fabric of Mon-El's pants. “_You're alive!_ I was so worried when I discovered you were not in your room! Where did you go?! And without telling me?! You could have had an accident! Gotten kidnapped! Robbed! Been murdered! _Assassinated!_”

Rolling his eyes, Mon-El futilely tried to shake his leg free of its unwanted attachment. “Gods, Hal-Ed, be serious. We're on _Krypton_. The only place I could be safer is Daxam.”

“We can't take something like a centuries-old alliance for granted!” Far from being reassured, Hal-Ed somehow looked even more horrified at Mon-El's lackadaisical answer. “Who knows what kind of insidious plot some shadowy figure somewhere might be putting together-”

Mon-El groaned out loud, drowning out the rest of Hal-Ed's deranged ramblings. “Is there a day that won't go by where I don't have to listen to some new implausible idea of how I might die horribly? From my own personal guard no less? As you can see, I'm alive and in one piece, Hal-Ed, so you can stop worrying now. And please, for the love of Lorra, make yourself presentable or I'm not allowing you to accompany me later.”

The threat worked perfectly and Hal-Ed sprang to his feet with a panicked look on his face. “Y-Yes, Your Highness! At once, Your Highness!” Then he looked down and paled at the sight of his dishevelled appearance. “Clothes! I need fresh clothes!” he stammered as he dropped the communicator he had still been holding and dashed off to his own room.

A weary sigh escaped Mon-El as he watched the door slam shut behind his personal guard. At least that was one problem dealt with-

“_Your Highness._”

He froze as a cold voice that promised death emanated from the discarded communicator. Chills ran down his spine as he slowly looked down to find that the device was still on... and a familiar face was glaring back at him through the screen.

If Hal-Ed had resembled a corpse earlier, then Ain would be what death itself would look like if it took physical form. There were shadows under her bloodshot brown eyes and even the green highlights in her unusually bedraggled black hair lacked their typical vibrancy.

“Ain...” He offered a feeble smile in a desperate attempt to placate her. “It's nice to-”

“Do you have _any_ idea,” she ground out, “how much sleep I got last night?”

“Um-”

“_None!_” she answered her own question with a deafening shout, causing him to flinch. “He called just as I was about to go to bed and I had to listen to _every single one_ of his worries and fears about what might have happened to you while you were out of his sight!”

“...Well, you've been latched to him for a few years already so you should be used to it by now...?” he tried to joke.

If looks could kill even through a video feed, he was sure the next official event he would have been attending was his own funeral.

“I'm sorry,” he tried again meekly. “Next time, I'll make sure he can't contact you at all.”

Her glare somehow managed to reach a new level of severity but then she closed her eyes and sighed heavily. “I would have greatly preferred a promise not to abandon my latchmate and cause him to worry about you in the first place but I suppose that would have been asking for too much... I will hold you to this, Your Highness.”

“You have my word, Ain.”

“Good. I'm going to try and get some sleep now. As for you, I hope your exploits last night, whatever or whoever they might have been, were worth it.”

Mon-El didn't bother to suppress his grin as he thought of the angry red lines Kara's nails had left on his back. “Oh yes, they definitely were.”

Ain let out another sigh but said no more and the communicator finally shut off but Bal-Seg reappeared almost immediately after that, his usual scowl in place. “If you are quite done with all these distractions, boy, I would like to remind you that we are dangerously close to being late for a meeting – one that is so important even your dull mind should be able to comprehend why failing to appear on time would be a grave mistake.”

“Oh be quiet, you relic,” Mon-El grumbled as he stalked past his tutor and headed straight for his own room. “You don't have to keep reminding me.”

Whatever Bal-Seg's reply was, Mon-El spared himself from hearing it by shutting the door behind him. Beeping caught his attention as he was walking to the adjoining bathroom and he accepted the call coming in through his own video communicator before taking it along with him.

“Ah, my dear son.” Lar Gand's beaming face filled the screen. “I was beginning to worry when you missed my first call. Is everything going well over there?”

“Nothing's wrong, Father, I promise. I apologise if I worried you,” Mon-El replied with a smile of his own as he began undressing.

Lar Gand began chortling mirthfully when he saw the scratches on Mon-El's back. “Well, well, well. I see someone had some fun last night. I hope you maintained the reputation of our great family and left your bedmate thoroughly satisfied?”

“Don't encourage him,” a scolding female voice cut into their conversation before Rhea came into view. “Mon-El, please ignore your father and remember why you're on Krypton right now. I understand all too well that you don't have to do anything until the latching but you really should try and discuss what kind of mating arrangements you and your future mate will have in the future. They might be our longest and most trusted allies but you know Kryptonians lead vastly different lives and considering the circumstances-”

“Mother, please,” Mon-El sighed wearily although there was a smile of fond exasperation on his face as he stepped into the shower. “I promise I'll do as you ask the moment the opportunity presents itself. I won't bring shame upon the royal family and Daxam by extension and I certainly won't do anything that could jeopardise the alliance between our planets.”

Rhea's frown deepened. “While that is undeniably of great importance, that's not my main concern.” She sighed wearily. “You're our son. I just want to make sure you're happy.”

“Your mother is right, Mon-El,” Lar Gand chimed in, his grin from earlier having softened into a warm smile. “We already know you will make a fine king with a worthy queen by your side when it is your time to sit on the throne. Our greatest wish is only that you're able to experience the kind of happiness we have regardless of how it will be achieved.”

Mon-El thought of Kara and smiled. “Thank you, Father, Mother. I hope so too.”

“Good, good.” Beaming, Lar Gand clapped his hands. “Now your mother and I will go and let you finish your preparations in peace. Make us proud, son!”

“Wait! I need to know what he plans to wear-”

The rest of Rhea's exclamation was cut off when Lar Gand ended the call, and Mon-El could only shake his head with a wry smile on his lips at his parents' antics.

Once again displaying his supernatural talent for appearing when he was least wanted, Bal-Seg opened the bathroom door just as Mon-El was towelling himself dry. “Took your time as usual, I see. Do I have to check if you used up Argo City's entire water reserve in the process?”

“Ha ha, very funny,” Mon-El snarked and rolled his eyes for good measure. “How about I check if any dusty old books have disappeared-”

When he looked up, he saw red blooming on the front of Bal-Seg's robes.

Then he blinked and it was gone.

“Did you perhaps slip and hit your head while you were in the shower, brat?” Bal-Seg grumbled, bringing Mon-El back to reality in the process. “I cannot think of any other possible reason why you might be spacing out when I have already stressed the importance of haste.”

Mon-El shook the disturbing hallucination away and shoved it out of his mind. “Grife, old man, calm down already. I'm starting to think you have a personal interest in this and that's having someone with whom you can share your self-assigned responsibility of breathing down my neck all the time.”

“I was not aware I was making any effort to hide those very intentions.”

“Remind me again why I haven't had you replaced yet?”

“You are too indolent to even attempt it and no one would take up this thankless labour even if you offered them all the wealth in the royal treasury.”

By the time they had sat down for breakfast, Mon-El had mostly forgotten about the strangeness earlier amidst all the bickering. As usual, Hal-Ed was left scandalised at Bal-Seg's lack of respect towards Mon-El and the now three-way argument showed no signs of abating even as they boarded the shuttle that would take them to their destination.

* * *

“Kara?”

The sound of her own name snapped Kara out of her thoughts and she looked up from her fidgeting hands to find her parents staring at her with undisguised concern. “Sorry, Father, Mother. Did you say something?”

Zor-El and Alura traded worried glances before turning their attention back to their daughter. “Kara, we know how you must be feeling right now and we just...” Alura trailed off as her words failed her.

“We wish it didn't have to be this way,” Zor-El finished for his wife, the warm smile he usually wore nowhere in sight.

Some of the tension in Kara's frame bled out and she fought back the wave of guilt swelling inside her even as she gave her parents a reassuring smile. “It's okay. I understand and I've already made my peace with it so you don't have to keep worrying about me.”

Far from being comforted, Alura's expression remained strained and she clenched her fists. “It still doesn't feel right. You're our only daughter; you should get to marry someone you actually love – someone you _chose_ for yourself – instead of having that decision made for you. And as a result of customs that aren't even our own at that!” Composure lost, she turned to her husband for help. “Zor-El, surely it's not too late. Can't you do something?”

“Mother, _please_,” Kara interrupted before her father could even begin to formulate a reply. “I agreed to this and we've been through more than half of the formalities. There's no going back. Not without serious consequences for both Krypton and Daxam.”

“But are you _happy_?” Alura asked almost desperately.

“I'm as happy as I can be in this situation.” It was the most truthful Kara allowed herself to be without giving away the actual truth.

Before anything else could be said, a muted alert filled the residence and all three of them straightened. Kara got to her feet and needlessly smoothed her dress before following her parents to the landing pad on the roof of their home. The shuttle which had sent the alert was only a short distance away when they arrived, and there was a not entirely unfamiliar tension that hung in the air as it landed and the door slid open.

Even though it had only been a few hours since their last meeting, Kara still felt her heart beat that little bit faster when Mon-El stepped out of the shuttle and into view.

Their eyes met and they exchanged smiles meant only for each other, and for that one fleeting eternal second the rest of the world didn't exist.

“Prince Mon-El of Daxam.” Zor-El's formal greeting brought the moment to an end, and Kara collected herself just in time to follow her parents' lead in bowing to their guests. “We are honoured by your presence once again, Your Highness, and welcome you along with your entourage to our humble home.”

“It is my honour... and please, as I have said before, there is no need for such formalities, Zor-El.” Despite his words, Mon-El maintained his respectful demeanour and returned Zor-El's bow. “After all, you are the father of my future latchmate and I have great respect for everything you have done as an accomplished member of your Guild on top of that.”

“Yes, I... Pardon me. Perhaps I still need more time to adjust to... the situation at hand,” Zor-El replied with noticeable stiffness.

Surprisingly, it was Alura who spoke up next, having managed to hide her earlier distress with more success than her husband. “Please, come inside and sit down. There are still a lot of preparations we need to discuss ahead of the ceremonies that will be held here on Krypton so we should get started as soon as possible.”

“If I may be allowed to interject,” Bal-Seg spoke up unexpectedly, drawing everyone's attention to him, “I have instructions from the King and Queen to ensure on their behalf that every one of your ceremonies has the highest possible level of security. Considering the seriousness of the matter, I would like to speak to you at length about it separately.”

Everyone else except Hal-Ed stared in surprise. “Are you expecting some kind of trouble?” Zor-El asked in quiet alarm.

Bal-Seg shook his head. “It is nothing of the sort, I assure you. Consider it merely another part of the formalities from our end. But if it would ease your mind, may I suggest that we settle that matter first before we move on to the rest of the discussions? His Highness and Lady Kara could perhaps spend some time getting acquainted in the meantime.”

“In that case, I will-” Hal-Ed began, no doubt about to voice his intentions to play chaperone, only to be swiftly cut off.

“As His Highness' personal guard, your input will be required.” Bal-Seg raised one eyebrow and eyed Hal-Ed critically. “Unless of course you consider this task to be lacking in importance where your duties are concerned?”

To Kara's lack of surprise – and most likely Mon-El's as well, considering he knew his personal guard better than she did – Hal-Ed became visibly affronted at the indirect accusation. “His Highness' safety at all times is my greatest priority- no, _my life's purpose_!” He turned towards Zor-El and Alura who were a bit taken aback by the intensity of his gaze. “Is your home and the area surrounding it measuring at least the length and width of a Garata field safe?”

Kara's parents blinked as one. “...I... would like to believe so...?” Zor-El replied slowly, unable to fully comprehend how the conversation had taken such an unexpected turn.

Hal-Ed's face fell a little at the uncertainty in Zor-El's voice but he steeled himself with great difficulty. “I will place my trust in your words. Now let us begin our discussions post-haste!”

Everyone watched, some with bemusement and others with bewilderment, as Hal-Ed marched purposefully inside, leaving the rest of them still standing motionless on the landing pad. Taking the opportunity that had been presented to them, Kara did her best to temper her smile as she spoke her next words. “In that case, I will show His Highness around our garden to see the oregus flowers in full bloom until we are needed.” She paused and glanced his way. “If that is something that would interest him, that is.”

“I do not mind.” Wearing an equally neutral smile although the emotions glimmering in his blue-grey eyes told another story, he stepped closer and offered his hand. “I am in your hands, Lady Kara.”

She slipped her hand into his, and the familiar warmth of his touch almost caused her to forget that they still had an audience. “This way then, Your Highness.”

They began walking away at a casual, sedate pace, paying no attention to the many eyes watching them until they were out of sight. However, neither of them dropped their guard until they had actually reached the privacy of the garden.

Even though she had been expecting it to some extent, Kara still let out a muffled noise of surprise when Mon-El pushed her up against the wall and kissed her until her lungs burned with the need for air.

“You were just here this morning,” she mock-complained when they finally parted but made no effort to push him away, “and yet you're acting as if we haven't seen each other for over a year.”

The roguish grin that curved his lips made her already racing heart beat that much faster. “Correction: I left you naked-”

“I was wearing a sheet,” she reminded him dryly.

“Half-naked,” he amended without missing a beat, “and you didn't even want to give me a goodbye kiss.”

“You got it anyway,” she huffed with put-on annoyance and rolled her eyes for good measure.

“I think you mean I had to claim it for myself.”

“More like exploit the situation and steal it from me.”

“Guilty as charged.”

He kissed her again before she could argue any further, and she allowed herself to get lost in the moment which seemed to last for a beautiful eternity.

To think that she had once tried to fight this... but then how could she have foreseen that things would turn out this way back then?

When word had reached her family that she had somehow been chosen by the Daxamite goddess of love and unions to be the mate of the crown prince of Daxam, Kara had been stunned, incredulous and outraged all at once. She'd had most of her future neatly mapped out for herself since she was a child and becoming the next queen of Krypton's oldest ally had not been part of her plans at all.

Furious and desperate to regain control of the trajectory of her life, she had taken advantage of the confusion the prophecy had sown on both sides to secretly reach out to her supposed future husband. Mon-El had not been particularly enthusiastic about the entire debacle either and had readily agreed to her suggestion of finding some other woman who could match the vague signs that had somehow pinpointed her as his 'destined' latchmate.

Somewhere in the midst of all the investigating and plotting, she had come to know the real him and, before she had realised it, gone from barely tolerating him to cherishing every moment she spent with him.

All of a sudden, finding someone else to marry him had become the last thing she wanted to do.

Doubts over how he himself felt about her – how he would react if he found out about her change of heart – had kept her from revealing her feelings outright. In her desperation to avoid losing him entirely, she had even resorted to distancing herself from him and occasionally even ignoring his calls. However, he had become quite skilled at reading her by then and figured out something was wrong even though he didn't know what it was exactly. Things had come to a head one day when he had all but broken into her room in the middle of the night to demand the reason behind her recent change in behaviour towards him.

Unable to bear it any longer, she had poured her heart out to him with tears in her eyes, all while he had stared at her with an unreadable expression on his face. As the ensuing silence had threatened to suffocate her, she had wondered with no small amount of trepidation whether her actions had ultimately led to the outcome she had feared the most.

Then the impossible had happened.

A smile had slowly formed on his face and he had, with some hesitation that bordered on uncharacteristic shyness, confessed that he felt the same way about her.

Their first kiss had followed shortly afterwards, and with that it had become clear that both of them no longer had any intention of finding him an alternate latchmate.

Unfortunately, they had then found themselves with a new unexpected problem: Going ahead with what was now a perfectly arranged marriage without giving away that they were already in love. At that time, their families had still been in the midst of trying to figure out a solution without involving them directly and as such they had yet to meet officially. If they revealed that they had somehow managed to develop feelings for each other despite that, there would undoubtedly be questions – questions, they were sure, that would eventually expose their original plan to find a way out of the aforementioned marriage arrangement and lead to unforeseeable consequences that would extend far beyond their own lives.

So a new plan had been formed: Individually accept the arrangement and keep their feelings hidden until they had dispensed with the last of the formalities.

It was a simple, uncomplicated plan... if they didn't keep taking risks that could blow said plan to bits, that is.

Just like they were right now.

“Mon-El, we should... We should stop.” Her breathless words would have been more convincing if she wasn't resting her forehead against his with her eyes closed and her fingers hadn't tangled themselves in the sleek fabric of his shirt. “Someone's going to see us.”

“Let them,” he murmured and pressed a soft kiss to the corner of her mouth before continuing. “If they ask questions, I'll just say I seduced you and you naturally fell for my many irresistible charms.”

Kara huffed out a laugh and rolled her eyes. “In the span of... what, a few minutes?”

“Well, I _am_ very charming and seductive as you can personally attest,” he drawled with no small amount of smugness. “And since you're in my arms right now, there doesn't seem to be any need for more evidence, is there?”

“How do you always find a way to sing your own praises in these situations?” she asked exasperatedly. “Besides, do you want to give my parents heart attacks or something?”

He put on an expression of faux seriousness. “It's another one of my many talents. And as for your parents, I'm pretty sure they'd be thrilled to learn that we are, at the very least, _wildly_ attracted to one another.”

“Of course... but seriously, Mon-El,” she chastised him as she uncurled her fingers and spread her palms flat against his broad chest to gently but firmly push him away. “We need to at least give the impression that we actually did what we said we were going to do when we came to the garden.”

“Oh come on, Kara,” he wheedled and batted those gorgeous eyes of his in an obvious attempt to sway her mind. “I've seen oregus blooms hundreds of times before. We can just pretend you showed them to me. I mean, no one's going to make me take a test about how big they were or anything like that.”

“No, but I'd like to not have to lie to my parents about yet another thing, okay? So please?” Now it was her turn to use the same tactic on him, and she had to fight the urge to smirk triumphantly when his willpower crumbled not seconds later.

“All right, all right, if you insist,” he sighed and took a step backwards with an air of exaggerated reluctance.

“Thank-” A sudden wave of dizziness struck her then, cutting her off and causing her to sway on her feet.

Almost immediately, he closed the distance between them again to grasp her arms in an instinctive effort to prevent her from falling. “Kara? What's wrong?” he asked urgently, a look of alarm on his face.

“Nothing.” She shook her head only to realise belatedly that the action just made it worse and squeezed her eyes shut, resigning herself to just letting the dizziness ebb away on its own. “Just... a bit light-headed, that's all.”

“I'll take that as proof I can literally make you swoon,” he tried to joke but the concern in his eyes gave him away. “But I want you to see a medi-droid after this regardless. Let's not take any chances here, all right?”

“You worry too much,” she sighed although she found herself smiling despite herself.

“Can you blame me?” he countered with undisguised incredulity. “You're always doing something or other to make me worry about you like fly around-”

“Fly around?” she echoed, perplexed, and watched as he blinked and a look of confusion formed on his face as well. “What in Rao's name are you talking about?”

“I... I don't know,” he answered, his brows furrowed and a hand pressed to his forehead. “Maybe it was some dream I had recently. I can't remember. Sorry, I don't know why I said that.”

“It better not have been a dream about me being a dragon or anything like that because I told you it was just a silly childhood phase I went through,” she playfully scolded him even as she tried and failed to keep her growing worry for him out of her voice. “Speaking of which, I hope you're proud of yourself for taking Kal-El for those flying lessons. Now he's scandalising Uncle Jor-El and Aunt Lara with his new ambitions of becoming a professional Garata player with his own dragon when he grows up.”

That seemed to do the trick at least for the moment as his expression eased and he let out a hearty chuckle. “Well, he's your beloved cousin after all and I wanted to find some common ground so we'd have an easier time getting along. It's not my fault he ended up idolising me to that extent.”

“You really are proud of yourself, aren't you,” she huffed with a touch of genuine irritation before her concern from earlier resurfaced. “Do you think you should see a medi-droid too?”

“It's just a strange dream or something equally harmless, Kara. There's nothing to worry about, I promise.”

“Even so, I'd prefer it if you didn't take any chances.”

“Using my own words against me, Kara Zor-El? How devious.”

“I'm being serious, Mon-El. Please.”

He took one look at her earnest, worried expression and predictably caved. “All right, I'll make you a deal: If you go see a medi-droid after the discussions, I'll see one too.”

“Immediately after the discussions?” she pressed.

“After I check in on Nes'th to see how she's settling in,” he amended. “You know how cranky she gets after a trip off-world even if it's just to Krypton.”

“Then maybe you shouldn't insist on bringing her with you practically everywhere you go. Honestly, sometimes I feel like I have to share you with her or something.”

“Is that jealousy I hear in your voice? You _do_ remember that she was in my life first, don't you? On that note, my parents asked me to discuss our future mating arrangements. You know, just to ensure that we'll both be more than adequately... _satisfied_... in a certain specific part of our impending latched life.”

Kara actually growled at him with narrowed eyes. “If you're actually suggesting what I think you're suggesting...”

A laugh burst out of Mon-El as he leaned in and kissed her on her nose, causing her to scrunch up her face. “I'm just teasing you. I don't want anyone else. Not now and not ever.”

“Good.” Somewhat mollified, she pecked him on the lips but pulled away before he could deepen the kiss. “Before I forget, please tell your parents I'm very grateful for their help in securing the shipment of Nth metal we needed for our research. I'm not sure how long it would've taken us to get our hands on it if we'd handled the negotiations on our own.”

“They'll be happy to hear that especially since they adore you.”

“Mm. Only because I agreed to marry you, I'm sure.”

“_And_ because you're the most beautiful, brilliant and all-round amazing woman they've ever met. In fact, I think they're more excited about you becoming the next queen than they are about their own son becoming king-”

“Your Highness!”

The sound of Hal-Ed's voice, distant and yet too close for comfort, brought them out of their little bubble and they immediately broke apart. “Looks like our time's up,” Kara murmured with no small amount of regret.

“Oh, I think we can steal a few more minutes for ourselves,” Mon-El said with a wink as he offered her his hand. “After all, weren't you supposed to show me something?”

“Indeed I was,” she giggled and took his hand before they both dashed further into the garden, laughing like mischievous little children all the way.

* * *

Even though he had assured Kara that it was nothing and there was no need for her to worry, Mon-El found himself more troubled about his situation than he would have liked.

It had started with that hallucination of Bal-Seg... _bleeding_... possibly even _dying_... and if it had been just that one thing he would've chalked it up to... something. He couldn't blame it on drugs – he didn't take any – or drink – the last time he'd even had a taste of his favourite Zakkarian ale had been quite a while back – so the only logical option left seemed to be sickness.

...Gods, he hoped he wasn't suffering from anything fatal because that would break Kara's heart and he couldn't allow that to happen.

No, there had to be another explanation – some other reason he was experiencing all these... these flashes of what he could only describe as another life. Another life where strange things... terrible things... had happened. To him, to Kara, to the ones they loved...

Pain lanced through his skull again as another non-memory hit him, causing him to stagger abruptly along the path to the stables. Luckily for him, there was a bench nearby and he dropped himself onto it before he collapsed on the ground. Clutching his head and squeezing his eyes shut, he forced himself to take deep breaths as he tried to weather the agony as best he could. It was like something inside his own mind was trying to break out – to break _free_ – but that was absurd. Insane, even.

Desperate to make it stop, he took a gamble and decided to stop fighting it. Maybe if he let it loose instead of trying to contain it, it would all go away-

It didn't.

And he remembered.

“Your Highness, are you all right?!”

Mon-El opened his eyes and lifted his head to find Hal-Ed looking down at him with a not unfamiliar expression of exaggerated panic on his face – Hal-Ed, alive and well and still very much breathing instead of a corpse lying on the ground, its features forever frozen in a grimace of surprised pain.

“Your Highness!” Hal-Ed exclaimed again, drawing Mon-El's attention back to him, somehow managing to look even more panicked than before. “Something is wrong, isn't it?! I'll summon a medi-droid- No, we must make haste to the nearest health centre-”

“Hal-Ed, stop.” Somehow, Mon-El found it in himself to keep his voice from breaking and even managed a small smile. “I'm fine, really. Just... got lost in thought for a moment.”

As he always had in life, Hal-Ed didn't take Mon-El's reassurances at face value. “I-I see... But still, perhaps a quick scan-”

“Grife, Hal-Ed. I said I'm fine.” The conversation was so painfully familiar Mon-El thought he might actually start crying right then and there. “Am I or am I not your prince? Do you not trust my word?”

“O-Of course I do, Your Highness! Please, forgive my insolence!” Aghast at the indirect accusation even though Mon-El hadn't intended it as such, Hal-Ed fell to his knees and prostrated himself before his prince. “I did not intend to insinuate-”

Mon-El reached out a hand to touch Hal-Ed's shoulder, and the gesture was enough to silence the man and cause him to look up with a somewhat comical mixture of horror and confusion. “Stop. It's all right. There's nothing to forgive and even if there were, I would forgive all of it readily.”

Relief and gratitude washed over Hal-Ed like a cleansing shower and he bowed his head again. “Thank you, Your Highness! You are too kind! I am truly fortunate to even be in your constant presence and even more so to have the unparalleled honour of being your personal guard!”

Hal-Ed's words and the sincerity in them made the ache in Mon-El's chest grow. “Hal-Ed, did I ever tell you that I'm glad you became my personal guard?”

The speed at which Hal-Ed raised his head to gape at Mon-El might have actually broken the sound barrier. “Ah... N-No, Your Highness, I-I don't believe so...”

Of course. Mon-El remembered how he had treated Hal-Ed since the day they had first met and fought to keep his regret from showing on his face. “Well, I am. I'm sorry I never told you before.” The words he had never so much as thought of saying to Hal-Ed – the real Hal-Ed, when he had still been alive – came out of him heavy with sorrow but also full of sincerity. “I'm glad that you were chosen for this responsibility and your service and dedication will forever be appreciated.”

Joy. Pure and simple joy. That was the only way to describe Hal-Ed's expression in that moment. “Your Highness...” He let out a strangled noise that sounded a little like a sob and bowed again to hide the tears that had begun streaming down his face. “I will carve these words that I do not deserve on my heart- no, my soul! – for the rest of my life! Until I draw my last breath, I will serve you unconditionally and carry out every task that will ensure your safety and well-being without hesitation!”

It was exactly what the real Hal-Ed would have said... and his final moments had proven every word of it was true. “I know, Hal-Ed. I know. Now,” Mon-El cleared his throat and tried his best to put on a casual front if only to preserve the fragile moment, “Ain made it clear she was more than a little upset about... well, everything to do with last night... so why don't you take this opportunity to buy her a gift? I'm sure she'll be a lot more forgiving if you did that. Do it for me if not yourself; I think she's angrier at me than she is at you.”

That was more than enough motivation and in the blink of an eye, Hal-Ed had leapt to his feet. “A brilliant idea, Your Highness! I will seek out something worthy of her immediately!” Then he paused. “Ah, but Your Highness, perhaps you should accompany me just in case...?”

“Hal-Ed, I promise I will head straight to the nearest health centre the moment I think something might be wrong,” Mon-El sighed with genuine if fond exasperation. “Go ahead; I need to check in on Nes'th. If I don't, there's a chance she'll throw me off in the middle of my next Garata match or something and we don't want that, do we?”

The way Hal-Ed paled and appeared close to emptying the contents of his stomach as he imagined Mon-El suffering all kinds of horrific injuries almost made Mon-El laugh. “I-In that case, I will let you continue with your original plan. But please alert me the moment you're headed back to our quarters so that I know you're all right!” he implored with borderline desperation.

“I will, I will. Now get going.”

Mon-El kept smiling until he was sure Hal-Ed had thrown his last backwards glance and watched on until the man finally disappeared from his sight. Alone with his thoughts again, he etched the last few moments he had just shared with the man he had never appreciated until he was long gone. Even if none of this was real, he wanted this to be the last memory of Hal-Ed – a memory of him being his usual annoying overprotective self instead of a lifeless body at the feet of his killer, having died most likely thinking he had failed his duty.

When he finally felt ready, he got to his feet with great effort and resumed his journey although his steps were heavier than before. A small part of him wanted to give up because he knew it would hurt... but he wanted to do this.

He needed to do this.

Sparing only seconds to nod at the random stable-hand he passed on his way, he followed a path he had walked in a yesterday that never happened.

And there she was, just as beautiful as he last remembered with her black and blue scales that made her look like the physical embodiment of the night sky – just as beautiful as all the times he had created her likeness in the dream world he shared with Kara.

Nes'th lazily cracked open an eye as he approached, her amber gaze simultaneously judging him for having taken so long to visit and rebuking him for having interrupted her sleep. So great was her ire at him that she didn't even lift her head when he entered her stall and just kept glaring at him.

“Hey there, gorgeous.” It was so strange, he thought to himself, how he could miss her so much even though he technically saw her every single time he played Garata with Kara or simply wanted to fly. “I'm sorry I kept you waiting.”

The majestic dragon was not swayed by his apology and continued to sulk the way only a pampered dragon could, narrowing her eyes further and letting out a derisive snort.

“Oh come on, don't be like that,” he cajoled as he got close enough to run his hands along her smooth scales, his genuine smile tinged with nostalgic sorrow. “I came to see you, didn't I?”

This time, her reply came in the form of a glint of sharp teeth.

“All right then, how about a treat or two? You know, I ordered a batch of your favourite to be prepared just this morning...”

Immediately, the antagonism in her amber gaze was replaced with great interest but outwardly she continued to feign nonchalance.

In that moment, Mon-El wondered if it was selfish to allow himself to just briefly forget none of this was real. “If you don't want any, that's fine with-”

She raised her head at long last and nudged him with her snout in the direction of the boxes containing her food, having clearly decided not to take any risks.

He laughed but did as he promised and soon returned with a bucket full of still warm raz'tal meat. Setting it down on the ground next to him, he picked up a piece and held it out to her, careful to let go the moment she had sunk her teeth into it. There was absolutely no risk of her biting his arm off but she had on several occasions in the past used the opportunity to 'accidentally' snag it hard and fast enough to cause him to fall flat on his face.

Slipping into the familiar routine of a lifetime ago, he watched her devour her food with a rapidly dimming smile. “I'm sorry,” he whispered, his voice barely audible. “I'm sorry I wasn't there. I'm sorry I couldn't save you either. I just... I just hope that... that you didn't suffer too much when you... when it happened. I'm just... I'm just _so_ sorry. About everything.”

The last of her food gone, Nes'th turned her attention to him and did nothing for several seconds. Then she snorted and lightly butted him in the chest with the tip of her snout. “You talk too much,” she seemed to be saying dismissively but there was something in her yellow eyes that conveyed grudging affection and possibly even... forgiveness.

His smile regained some of its brightness and he reached out to grasp her scaly head so that he could rest his forehead against the bridge of her nose. “You were magnificent. You were the most magnificent dragon to ever live and I miss you. But you probably knew that already.”

She snorted again as if to say, “Of course, I expect nothing less.”

A soft laugh slipped out and he let himself soak in the moment a little longer before releasing her and stepping away. “Goodbye, Nes'th.”

Then he turned around and walked away without looking back.

Kara. He had to find Kara. She had to be the one who had gotten snared first and unwittingly dragged him along with her so she was the key to ending it. It was going to be difficult especially since he had an idea just what was causing all this but he had to wake her up.

...But there was one more person he had to visit – to say goodbye to – first.

Maybe it was another bit of selfishness on his part but if he didn't take the opportunity, he was sure he would never forgive himself... and neither would Kara when she found out.

He only hoped that she didn't find yet another reason to want to stay in this false paradise in the meantime.

* * *

“Medical scan complete. Congratulations, Kara Zor-El; you are pregnant.”

Kara stared disbelievingly at the medi-droid as the world tilted on its axis underneath her.

“B-But that's impossible!” she blurted out when she finally regained her ability to think and speak, too shocked to even try to keep her voice down. “We've been careful! There's no way-”

Then she remembered that one time not too long ago where they – or rather she specifically – had been less than careful... and in hindsight, she thought she could be forgiven for her lapse in caution.

She had been in the middle of trying to make her team's space-time disruption scanner work when the news had hit. Less than a year ago, she would have been annoyed at just how much coverage even Krypton's newsfeeds devoted to the crown prince of Daxam. Now, however, it was, in addition to being a source of teasing from both sides, a convenient way for her to do things like watch his Garata matches without physically being there.

It was supposed to have been a simple training session – some light warm-up before a friendly match between their planets meant to entertain the royal family's latest guests – so she had paid it little attention.

That had been before every single newsfeed had practically exploded with the shocking footage of Mon-El falling off Nes'th mid-flight and hurtling down to the ground below while the dragon tried and failed to catch him in mid-air.

Time had come to a halt for Kara in that moment, and it had been a miracle that she hadn't just screamed in horror until her throat bled while surrounded by her fellow Guild members. Instead, she had just gone numb and as a result no one had suspected a thing when she had excused herself for the rest of the day. When she looked back, she couldn't recall how she had done it – only that she had somehow managed to secure a pod without anyone noticing, flown to Daxam and snuck into the well-guarded health centre where he had been recuperating.

All she had wanted to do was see with her own eyes that he was all right – that he was still alive and she hadn't lost him in some random accident – but the moment she had entered his room to find him all healed up albeit a little tired...

One thing had led to another, and it had been one of the rare occasions where _he_ had had to remind _her_ to leave before anyone found them together.

It had never occurred to her to check whether her last round of preventatives had still been in her system even after she had arrived home... and now she knew the answer to that unasked question.

“Would you like me to begin setting up a healthcare plan?”

The medi-droid's voice pulled Kara out of her recollections and she nearly jumped out of her seat. “W-What?”

“Would you like me to begin setting up a healthcare plan?” the medi-droid repeated helpfully. “It would be best to start as soon as possible so that we can ensure that you and your child are healthy throughout your pregnancy and even after you have given birth. The first step would be to-”

“W-Wait.” Head still spinning a little from the news, she nearly grabbed the medi-droid in a blind bid to stop it from talking. “Just... Can this wait? I haven't... I'd like to talk to Mo- I mean, my... partner first before I do anything.”

“While the ideal would be to start planning immediately, it is safe to wait a few days,” the medi-droid replied. “Is that a sufficient amount of time?”

“Y-Yes.” There was no way she wasn't going to tell him immediately after this, after all. “In the meantime, I-I'd like my medical records to be temporarily encrypted please; only I will have access to it until and unless I give someone permission.”

“As you wish, Kara Zor-El.” A second of silence followed before the medi-droid beeped. “Medical records encrypted.”

“Thank you. I... That will be all for today; I'll be back as soon as I can.”

Somehow, she managed to make it out of the health centre albeit on shaky legs, and it was perhaps only thanks to Rao's blessing that she didn't run into anyone who knew her. Still understandably dazed, she rested a hand on her flat stomach and tried one more time to comprehend her situation.

Pregnant. She was pregnant. She was carrying a child – _their_ child – this very second.

A whirlwind of emotions slammed into her then, forcing her to reach a hand out and grab the nearest object available which turned out to be a street light for support. Her heart and mind were a jumbled mess of everything from the hundred different possible ways Mon-El would react to this development to the surprising elation at the mere thought of becoming a mother.

One thing was for sure, however; there was almost no way this was going to fit neatly into their current plans for dealing with their arranged marriage.

Seized with a sudden sense of urgency, Kara started striding briskly in the direction of the residential unit Mon-El was supposed to be staying at while he was on Krypton. She had to talk to him as soon as possible – both to tell him what she had just learned and to discuss just how they were going to deal with it in the context of their impending wedding.

A child. _Their_ child. They were going to be _parents_.

She couldn't help it; she smiled, joyful but still nervous, and pushed herself to move just that little bit faster.

Unfortunately, the only person she found upon reaching her destination was Bal-Seg who was sipping a cup of his favourite tea as he read an old tome he had likely borrowed from one of Argo City's archives.

“O-Oh,” she stammered, unsure what to say or do. “I, um... My apologies, Bal-Seg. I was looking for M- His Highness. Would you-”

“I am not aware of His Highness' current whereabouts,” he replied before she could even finish her question. “Last I heard, he was headed to the stables but it is possible that he has taken a detour somewhere along the way back here.”

She tried not to let her disappointment show and was only partially successful. “I-I see.” Would it be worth the risk to try and contact him via their private communicators? Or was it safer to just wait here for him to return? Bal-Seg would get suspicious, no doubt, although for some reason she felt like he already knew the truth about her relationship with Mon-El despite their efforts to keep it secret.

“You are welcome to stay here and wait for him to return if you wish, Lady Kara,” he suggested as if he had picked up on her internal dilemma. “Do not mind me, if you are concerned that I may overhear something you do not wish for me to know. As His Highness likes to remind me far too often, I am but an old man whose senses have degraded to such an extent he couldn't hear a starving dragon even if it roared right in his face.”

The overly elaborate and exaggerated description nearly made her laugh, doing wonders for her nerves in the process, but she tempered it into a smile instead. “I'm sure that's not true. In any case, thank you for the offer, Bal-Seg, but I, um... It can wait.” It couldn't – at all – but he didn't need to know that. “When His Highness returns, could you please tell him to come see me at my home? There's something I'd like to discuss with him in private.”

“Very well. While you are here, Lady Kara,” he called out just as she was about to leave, “I was wondering if I could have a moment of your time to speak about the humble request of an old man?”

“Of course.” Curious and just a little concerned, she took her hand off the door lock panel and gave him her full attention. “What is it?”

There was a paradoxical mixture of intensity and softness in his green eyes as he reached out with his gnarled hands to grasp hers. “Please... take care of him for me.”

Kara froze and stared, mouth slightly agape. “W-What?”

“Your lives are bound together, for better or worse,” he continued as if she hadn't reacted at all, “and I cannot presume to know in any shape or form what plans the gods have for him and you as well. But he will have you by his side just as you will have him by yours, and perhaps it is only my wishful thinking that it will be more than enough for whatever may come. Even so, I am sure you would agree that such dreams are the hard-earned privilege of one who has lived as long as I have.”

The strangeness of the conversation was mitigated by the fact that although she had only ever heard Mon-El complain about Bal-Seg and vice versa, she knew that deep down both men truly cared about each other. It was, however, still strange, and not for the first time she wondered just how much he actually knew about what was really going on between her and Mon-El. “I think he'll be a fine king, Bal-Seg, and I assure you that I'll do everything in my power to help him as he carries out his duties. Besides,” she added somewhat jokingly in an attempt to lighten the mood, “you talk as if you won't be there to guide him as well when I've heard that you're expected to outlive even the universe itself.”

Instead of the gruff sarcastic reply she had been expecting, he gave her a look that was almost... wistful... and gently squeezed her hands. “That such things were possible... yet it is because they are not that I am entrusting him to you, Lady Kara.”

“I care about him, Bal-Seg. A lot.” She didn't really know why she felt compelled to confess this to him right here and right now; all she knew was that it was somehow important to do it. “You have my word that I'll be there for him no matter what.”

He nodded, neither his face nor his posture giving anything away, yet it seemed as if a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. “That is all I needed to hear. Now go; I will send him to you when I next see him.”

* * *

Unbeknownst to Mon-El, he returned to find Bal-Seg in almost the exact same state that Kara had found the elderly tutor when she had stopped by looking for him earlier. It made sense; in a perfect and timeless world, this was how the old man would always be: peacefully enjoying the few indulgences he allowed himself even if that included tossing insults Mon-El's way as if it came as naturally to him as breathing.

“If you intend to begin imitating a statue, boy, I would prefer it if you did not do it in the doorway where you would obviously inconvenience everyone who wishes to enter and exit the premises.”

Mon-El didn't even bother to try and stop the smile that spread across his face, however faint and tinged with sadness it was. “I was just checking to see if you were still alive without going close, you stupid old man. After all, the last thing I want is to accidentally breathe in any of the dust you'll turn into the moment you drop dead.”

Bal-Seg snorted and kept his eyes trained on the book in front of him. “If I were to die in a state such as this, it would undoubtedly be because I was waiting for you to show some sign of bare competency in carrying out the duties that await you in the near future.”

“Sorry to disappoint, you walking bag of bones, but I have it on good authority that I'm already exceptional in every way that matters. Maybe you just need to stop being so blind.”

“Hmph. Only a dullard among dullards would ever consider you capable of anything above the most basic of activities required to stay alive... and even that is being generous.”

Pain flared in Mon-El's chest and he struggled to maintain his cheerful facade. Oh how he had missed this. This... This was all he had wanted when he had come looking for Bal-Seg: to have one last taste of days long gone – one last memory of something that had been so common as to be considered insignificant and yet had held more meaning than it had seemed possible. The temptation to stay and let the moment stretch on was almost too much for him to bear... but he had to be strong. Kara needed him to be strong. He couldn't give in for her sake.

No matter how much he wanted to.

“You are unusually quiet, boy.”

Mon-El blinked and found Bal-Seg scrutinising him intently. “It's nothing. I was just... lost in thought.”

A derisive snort escaped Bal-Seg at that. “You? Thinking deeply? If Hal-Ed were here, I would have instructed him to check if you have been replaced with an impostor.”

“You should see it as a compliment, you know.” He had pushed his luck with Nes'th earlier and hadn't suffered any kind of adverse reaction so maybe it was safe to take just one more risk. “You're probably the only reason my brain didn't rot away to nothingness even after everything I put it and my body through.”

“So it has come to this then,” Bal-Seg sighed. “My life's defining accomplishment is something that can be placed on the same level as spending an hour a day asleep in a healing tank.”

Mon-El chuckled lightly and lowered his gaze to the ground to prevent Bal-Seg from potentially seeing and thus commenting about how he looked like he was about to cry. “Only you could've done that, you know,” he whispered. “And for that I will forever be grateful. I'm grateful not only that you became my tutor but also that... that you saw something in me worth teaching. Even after that day.”

“I would not have bothered if I had not considered you worth the effort.”

Bal-Seg's sincere response caused Mon-El to snap his head back up and stare. Was this just another gift from the dream? To hear words that he wished he could have heard from his tutor while he had still been alive? Would the real Bal-Seg have said something like this? There was no way to tell... but he wanted to believe. “I wish you could see the man I've become because of her. I... I'd like to think you'd be proud of me. Just a little.”

Neither Bal-Seg's gaze nor his voice wavered even a little. “I do not need to see anything. I already know.”

There was a strange lump in Mon-El's throat and it was a struggle to talk around it. “You would've loved her. She's... She's everything. _Everything_.”

“Then make sure she knows this.”

“I will. Every single day of the rest of my life. I swear.”

“Good. Because finding someone who genuinely considers your company desirable based on your own merits, however few those might be, is what I would consider a blessing from all the gods combined and should therefore not be taken for granted.”

Laughter bubbled up from deep inside Mon-El and the pain in his chest eased. “I don't need a senile old man to tell me how lucky I am.”

“And yet I have to tell you so many things on a daily basis...” Bal-Seg groused. “On a related note, I am your tutor, brat, not your personal messenger. Is it not past time for you and Lady Kara to establish your own communication lines? She came by looking for you earlier and it was apparent she had no means of contacting you directly.”

At once, Mon-El straightened. “Did she say what she came to talk to me about?”

“No, but perhaps you should go speak to her as soon as possible,” Bal-Seg said flatly. “I suggested that it would be best if she waited for you in the comfort of her own home and promised to send you her way the moment you returned.”

“I see. Thank you, Bal-Seg; I'll head over right now.” If he was lucky, Kara had started to realise something was just a little wrong about the lives they were currently leading... but Mon-El doubted it. He had been in her shoes once before, after all.

Despite the urgency of the situation, he hesitated at the doorway. “...I'm glad we had this talk, Bal-Seg.” _Even if this isn't real._

“As am I,” came the quiet response. “Now stop dallying and go. She needs you.”

Etching these stolen moments into his heart and mind, Mon-El left for Kara's home without another word. They had never said goodbye before and it felt wrong to break that... tradition, so to speak... now even though it might feel right to do so.

Would he regret it later? Maybe. But he had said what he'd wanted to say and heard what he'd only dreamt of hearing. That was more than he could have asked for.

He kept walking.

All too soon, he was at his destination and, deciding to avoid any potential hurdles, retraced the path he had taken last night. The electronic lock pick he had used to open her window was still in place, making his entry as easy as a tap and a jump.

Kara had been in the middle of pacing, uncharacteristically enough, and clearly so lost in thought that it took his less than quiet landing to snap her out of it.

“Mon-El!” She pressed a hand to her chest and took a moment to overcome her shock before levelling a glare his way. “Are you trying to give me a heart attack?”

He lowered his head and prepared himself for a difficult conversation. “Sorry, I know I should've come in the proper way but this couldn't wait.”

Having picked up on his unusual behaviour, she became concerned and closed the distance between them so that she could grasp his arm. “Mon-El, what's wrong?”

_Everything._ “I'll tell you in a bit. Just... Can you answer a few questions for me first?”

“...You're starting to scare me a little but... okay...”

Their mental connection appeared to be muted in this dream – possibly because they had forgotten that it even existed in the first place – but he hoped he could use it now that he remembered it. Taking her hands in his and raising them so he could press a feather-light kiss to each of her palms, he silently asked for her forgiveness for what he was about to do. _I'm sorry. I'm sorry I have to take this from you. I'm sorry I have to break your heart again._ “Do you remember where we first met?”

“Of course.” Her reply was both immediate and confused. “It was at the... at the...” she began to falter, her certainty giving way to even more confusion, and she pulled a hand free from his grasp to press it against her head.

“Did you think of a field?” he asked gently, doing his best to reach her mind through their connection in the meantime. “An endless field of green under a cloudless blue sky and a red sun that didn't paint everything under it crimson?”

“But that can't be!” she protested, his words having clearly made her uneasy for reasons he was sure were doing little to help with her confusion. “A place like that can't possibly exist-”

“-except in a dream,” he finished for her and forced himself to keep going even as he watched pain dominate her features. “I need you to think, Kara. I need you to remember that field. And then I need you to remember everything that happened after you woke up there. Can you do that for me? Please?”

She swayed a little on her feet as the pain seemingly intensified, prompting him to pull her close and hold her tight as her hands clenched fistfuls of his shirt and her laboured breathing filled his ears. Time stretched on, and they stayed like that even as her laboured breathing gave way to quiet sobbing. “...This isn't real, is it?” she finally asked hoarsely, her words further muffled by the way she had buried her face in his chest.

He paid no attention to how her tears were soaking his shirt and tightened his arms around her as if the action could somehow leech away her pain. “...No, it's not.”

“They're all...” She couldn't bring herself to finish her sentence.

He couldn't blame her. “Yes. I'm sorry.”

A shuddering sob escaped her and he kissed the top of her head, and neither of them moved for a while until she suddenly pulled away and looked up at him with wide, terrified eyes. “But you're real, right? You're alive?”

She knew this already but he understood why she needed to ask; having her world turned upside down again – even if said world had never been real in the first place – had unearthed all the fears and insecurities that still slumbered, eternal and undying, in the darkest recesses of her heart. “Yes. I am.” He offered her his warmest smile and cradled her face in his hands with the greatest possible care. “The next time you go to sleep, I'll be right there in that field waiting for you.”

“Promise?” she whispered brokenly.

“I promise. But first you have to wake up, okay? You have to wake up or you might... you might die. And when you wake up, there's a good chance you'll find a large flower nearby. You need to put it somewhere safe and secure – somewhere no one else might end up getting snared by it. Can you please help me do that?”

She nodded silently before burying her face in his chest again, and he obliged by closing his own eyes and holding her as tightly as he could without hurting her.

When he opened his eyes again, he was alone, standing in an endless field of green with only a cloudless blue sky and a red sun as his companions.

The tears finally started to fall then.

* * *

Eve was fully aware that she was, by all accounts, an average human being who was unremarkable in nearly every way except the kind of company she kept.

After all, her best friend was an alien refugee with superpowers and regularly flew around the city saving the day, for starters; it was kind of hard to compete with that and she had no interest in even trying.

In summary, she knew the limits of her capabilities, and when she and Alex had arrived at Kara's apartment in the morning to find a giant flower they were very sure was not from Earth sitting on Kara's chest with its vines wrapped tightly around her prone body, she knew they needed all the help they could get.

Even if it meant calling someone she had sworn she would beat to within an inch of his life the next time she laid eyes on him.

“Are you sure you know what you're doing?” she asked, doing her best to keep the agitation out of her voice and ignore the way Alex looked like she was a heartbeat away from shooting something. Or someone.

Winn paused in the middle of whatever the hell he was up to with that ridiculous helmet thing he had brought with him and gave her a look that was part frustration and part insulted. “I'm trying to essentially hack Kara's brain – which is an _alien_ brain, in case you've forgotten – using VR technology that I have to modify myself somehow so that it uses her brainwaves as its- Why am I even trying to explain this to you? You probably won't even understand half of what I say.”

“Listen, jackass, if you're just going to use this opportunity to insult me-”

“_Stop it._” Alex's commanding voice put an end to their argument before it even really began, and Eve had the good grace to feel a little guilty at letting her emotions get the better of her. “If you're going to do anything else besides help, I'd rather you _get out_. _Now._”

A quick glance confirmed that Winn was equally chastened but that gave Eve little comfort. “Sorry, Alex. I guess we're all a little tense considering...” Her glance slid over to the unconscious form of her best friend lying on her bed like some twisted recreation of Sleeping Beauty and she wondered what was really going on. Eve still didn't really know how Kara's dream world worked but hopefully Mon-El was helping however he could from his end.

“I know, I know,” Alex sighed in frustration as she ran a hand through her hair. “It's just that-”

There was a sudden sound like slithering coming from the bedroom, and as one all three of them turned towards the source of the sound to find the flower curling into itself and seemingly going dormant. Then Kara stirred, and as one all three of them practically fell over themselves to rush to her side.

“Kara?! Kara, are you okay?!” Alex practically screamed as she grasped Kara's shoulders and barely resisted the urge to shake her fully awake. “Talk to me!”

For a moment, Kara seemed to look through Alex – in fact, she didn't even seem to notice any of them – and her gaze swept across them to land on the flower lying next to her. She moved as if she was in some kind of trance, picking it up with perplexing gentleness and placing it in a box she had fished out from under her wardrobe.

Then she stopped moving and none of them moved either, and the strange dissonant serenity continued until a sharp noise pierced the silence.

“Of all the times...” Alex snarled as she glared daggers at her phone, seemingly talking to herself. “There's been an attack at the main Lord Technologies research lab. Suspected alien activity but we don't know-”

A sudden gust of wind inside the apartment cut her off and when Eve as well as Winn and Alex opened their eyes again, they found there were only three people in the apartment.

It was obvious what had happened... and Eve found herself wondering if whoever was responsible for that attack would escape the impending encounter in one piece.

* * *

Rage.

All-consuming rage born of all-encompassing grief.

That was all Kara was able to process as she flew towards Lord's building.

She wanted... She wanted to hurt whoever had put her and Mon-El in that dream. She wanted to make them _suffer_.

But since she didn't even know the identity of the culprit, she was going to settle for the nearest available person she could use as a punching bag.

However, the first thing she did when she flew into the lab was check on the Lord Technologies employees present. There didn't seem to be any casualties and no one had suffered serious injuries; even Lord was fine albeit unconscious, having seemingly used his own body as a shield to protect Sam who had also been knocked out.

Then her sweeping gaze landed on her aunt and uncle who looked shocked and displeased respectively at the sight of her.

Suddenly she had a feeling she knew who exactly she had to blame for the dream.

Impossibly, her rage intensified and she threw herself at Astra with a primal scream.

In their last battle, Kara had been hampered by shock and hesitation which had worked immensely to Astra's advantage.

This time, their circumstances had switched, and while Astra still had her battle experience on her side, it was countered by the raw, blind fury that fuelled every single one of Kara's punches and kicks.

If Non had not intervened with a blast of heat vision that sent Kara crashing into the wall behind her, there was no telling how the fight would have ended.

“You... You woke up.” Astra's stunned voice somehow managed to cut through the ringing in Kara's ears. “But _how_? How did you manage to escape the Black Mercy's clutches?”

Astra's questions only confirmed what Kara had suspected but it still enraged and hurt to know for sure. “How could you?!” she asked instead of replying although she made no effort to continue fighting. It wouldn't do any good no matter how much it might make her feel better; she had lost the element of surprise and if Non was going to get involved again, there was no way she was going to win. “How could you do that to me?!”

“You would've been happy,” Astra replied although she didn't sound like she believed it herself. “Earth's yellow sun would've ensured it didn't kill you. You... You would have been able to live your dream life for _centuries_.”

“_I would've been living A LIE!_” Kara screamed back, fists clenched so tightly she was almost sure her nails were drawing blood. “_Do you have ANY idea what you did to me?! To US?! WHY?! Why did you do it?! Were you that angry at me for not agreeing to help you?! Is that it?!_”

“_No!_” As soon as her outburst was over, Astra deflated and became unsure again. “I... You're still my beloved niece, Kara. I thought... This way, you'd still be able to be happy.”

“You don't get to decide what makes me happy.” A distorted noise that only vaguely resembled a laugh escaped Kara. “You told me you pretty much hate Mother for what she did to us but here you are doing almost exactly the same thing to me.”

“That's... That's not true.” If Astra had sounded unsure before, her latest denial lacked even the smallest hints of false conviction.

“Enough.” Non's cold voice brought their conversation to an abrupt halt. “Astra, we got what we came for. We should leave.”

“What were you after?” Kara demanded to know, unwilling to walk away from this battle completely empty-handed. “What are the two of you planning?”

Non smiled, shark-like, while Astra turned away, no longer able to look Kara in the eye. “You'll find out soon enough. Especially now that you chose to reject Astra's overly generous charity.”

With those ominous parting words, the duo left.

* * *

Just like he had promised, Kara found Mon-El waiting for her in the field that defined their own personal dream world. “Hey.”

He started a little and turned to look at her, a weak smile curving his lips, but didn't get up. “Hey.”

She slowly approached and sat down next to him but didn't dare say anything until she was sure she wasn't going to just start crying all over again. “I'm sorry.”

That caused him to turn his bewildered gaze her way. “What? Why are you apologising?”

“It's my fault.” Despite her best efforts, her vision started to blur with unshed tears. “I... Because of me, you...”

“Hey, hey. No.” Instantly, his hand came up to cup her face and the blue-grey energy flooded her mind with wave after wave of soothing calm. “Kara, you're not to blame for this, okay? At all. It's whoever used-”

“Aunt Astra.” The name burned her throat with hurt and betrayal. “It was Aunt Astra.”

The blue-grey energy stuttered briefly, emanating a sorrow that matched her own and was similarly mirrored on his face. “I'm sorry. Both because it was her and because I know it must have hurt to lose everyone and everything one more time.”

“Thank you.” She didn't know what else she was supposed to say next so she simply nodded and waited for him to draw his hands back so that she could curl up against him. He naturally obliged, ceding what could almost be considered her spot to her as he wrapped his arm tight around her waist.

Silence ruled once more for a brief eternity until she brought its reign to an end. “...Mon-El?”

“What is it?” he asked quietly, the comfort flowing into her head from his side of their connection never faltering even once.

“It's nothing that important but... I was just wondering...” Kara stumbled over her words while he got understandably curious. “Aunt Astra... She called the flower Black Mercy but... I gave the flower to Tae and Sui for safekeeping and they referred to it in Daxamite as Final Mercy.”

“Ah. That.” Mon-El cast his gaze towards the horizon and the blue-grey energy retreated from her mind a little. “That flower is native to Daxam so technically Final Mercy is its true name; Krypton must have mistranslated or just renamed it when they learned about it.”

“But why? Why call it that to begin with?” How could a plant that deceived its victims with fantasies of a false life, however ideal, while it slowly killed them be considered merciful in any way?

“It's... an old and somewhat long story.” He let out a heavy sigh. “Long ago, there was a man named Zek Nos who's considered the first Brush of Lorra before Vessels were officially recognised by the royal family of Daxam. It's said he was so talented in all the arts that wild dragons would stop hunting to listen to him sing and even Mordo himself would put down his sword when Zek Nos was weaving another one of his stories. However, Zek Nos' talents earned him the resentment of many and one day, a jealous clansman attempted to kill him with poison.”

“That's... That's horrible.”

“It was, but what was worse was that while Zek Nos survived his attempted murder, his body had been badly damaged by the poison and he was in excruciating pain. Unable to bear seeing him in such a state, his family and students begged Lorra to intervene somehow – to take away his pain at the very least if not save him outright. Having seen how her Vessel had been treated once already and reluctant to let it happen again, Lorra chose the former and plucked a strand of her own hair to weave into a flower that she then placed on Zek Nos' body. Through the flower, she rewarded his service to her with painless dreams full of happiness, and so he went into Rao's light free of agony. And that... That is why we call it the Final Mercy; we use it to grant a painless end to the suffering and the dying.”

“How did you know?” The question slipped out without her realising it but now that she had voiced it, she felt like she needed to hear the answer. “How did you know that dream wasn't real? That it was created by Final Mercy?”

His sigh this time was much heavier, weighed down as it was with guilt and shame. “...There was a drug on Daxam,” he began slowly, “that was synthesised using the extract of a Final Mercy. The intent was to allow someone to experience the dreams of their ideal life without having to subject themselves to the flower's... less attractive qualities. Its use was... strongly discouraged due to how compelling the dream could be; there were many cases where people just let themselves... waste away on it to the extent that it would've been no different if they'd subjected themselves to the flower itself.” He fell silent and bowed his head before continuing. “The first time I took it, it had been after my first visit to Maaldoria – to Slaver's Moon.”

She gasped at the name, almost instantly recognising it and its significance. A planet that orbited the red sun Arcturus, Maaldoria was considered the heart of the intergalactic slave trade. There was only one possible reason Mon-El would have been there... and his next words confirmed it.

“My parents took me there to show me... to show me one of the many responsibilities I would have once I became king. They introduced me to everyone that would... help me to... to do what I would have to do. When I dared to ask if there was an alternative, they... they didn't take it very well.”

There was so much pain in his expression and voice that she almost wanted to tell him to stop.

“I didn't... I couldn't... That day was the first time I ever took the drug.” Some pale imitation of a smile twisted his lips. “And it was a beautiful dream. I dreamt... I dreamt of a Daxam that didn't use slaves – a Daxam where everyone was genuinely happy and well taken care of regardless of their status. But most of all... Most of all, I dreamt that my parents genuinely loved me.”

“Did you... Did you keep taking the drug?” she asked, almost afraid of how he would answer.

The moment she saw his smile soften just a touch, she knew what he was going to say next. “Bal-Seg made sure that was the only time I ever did. He found me and shook me awake from the dream. You know, I think that was the first time I'd ever seen him genuinely furious at me. He told me that he would tolerate everything else but if I was going to waste his time just dreaming my life away, he might as well step down as my tutor. It terrified me, to be honest, and I begged on my knees for him to reconsider – swore in the name of all the gods that it would never happen again. If my parents had seen me debase myself – debase the royal family – the way I had in that moment, they would've had Bal-Seg executed on the spot.”

It was something she could easily imagine but she chose to keep quiet.

“But I didn't care; I begged and begged until he finally said he would remain my tutor. Would you believe the old man actually told Hal-Ed that _he_ would lose his position if he ever saw me in possession of the drug? Something about how he would be failing his duties, I think. The man started crying so much when I jokingly asked him once to buy it for me that I actually felt bad about it. Can you imagine? Me feeling sorry for making Hal-Ed bawl like a newborn?”

“I'm sorry,” she blurted out the moment he finished his story, causing him to meet her gaze once more. “I know you said I shouldn't apologise but _you lost them again_. You had to lose them all over again and I can't- _Why aren't you angry?_”

Sadness clouded his features and coursed through the blue-grey energy but somehow he still found it in himself to smile at her. “That's true, I suppose, but... In a way, I'm... grateful, you could say. I... I know it wasn't real but... being able to say goodbye properly... to see them as they were one last time... I'm glad I got that opportunity.” He blinked a few times as if to hold back tears before refocusing all his attention on her. “What about you? I'm sorry I didn't give you the chance to say your own goodbyes.”

“It's fine. Really.” She tried to smile both for his sake and her own. “I... I got to say goodbye to Father and Mother for real just before... It wasn't necessary.”

He didn't quite look convinced but nodded anyway and let her be. “All right. If you say so.”

They both fell silent again and she curled up even tighter against him, but just like the first time she was the one to bring it to an end. “...Mon-El?”

“Yes, Kara?”

She covered the hand resting near her stomach with her own and squeezed it in some blind bid to draw strength from him without giving anything away. “That world... That life... Was it... Was it everything you wanted?”

He frowned in confusion but thankfully answered her anyway. “I suppose so. Why do you ask?”

“_Medical scan complete. Congratulations, Kara Zor-El; you are pregnant.”_

How was she supposed to tell him? Should she even tell him?

...No. She couldn't.

“I just... wanted to be sure,” she answered evasively instead, glad that he couldn't see her face in that moment.

“...Okay.” She felt him press a kiss to her hair. “But if there's anything you want to tell me, it's up to you when. I want you to know that.”

All she could do was nod, and when she started crying again later irrationally mourning the loss of something that had never existed to begin with he just held her and didn't ask why.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (pokes head out of secure bunker)
> 
> ...So... Nobody wants to murder me... right...? Especially if I say the next chapter might be slower than usual...? >.>;;
> 
> (sees a suspicious glint in the distance and dives back into the bunker)
> 
> Compliment for the Chapter:  
This is actually the one Superman story I totally approve of stealing for Kara because I've always felt it fits her more than it does Clark so good job, whoever made that decision.
> 
> Criticism for the Chapter:  
Having said that, I'm not fond of their decision to change the nature of Black Mercy into a hostile force actively and aggressively trying to keep Kara trapped in the dream (long story short, the original/comic version allows its 'prisoners' to escape if they have the willpower to reject the dream). I suspect this was done so that we could have that Dramatic Danvers Sisters Moment the dream ended on but I personally feel it would've been better if Kara CHOSE to wake up because that highlights her strength of will and character instead of it just being a very simplistic choice between living and dying while trapped in a nightmare. Of course, that's just my opinion.


End file.
